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THE BOYS' BOOK OF 
HUNTING AND FISHING 



THE BOYS' BOOK OF 

HUNTING AND 

FISHING 

PRACTICAL CAMPING-OUT, 
GAME-FISHING AND WING-SHOOTING 



BY 

WARREN H. MILLER 

Editor of Field and Stream 
Author of "Camp Craft," etc. 



FOREWORD BY DAN BEARD 




NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






Copyright, 1916, 
By George H. Doran Company 



Printed in the United States of America 
copyright, 1914, 1915, by the boys' magazine 

JUN -6 1916 
©CI.A433877 



FOREWORD BY DAN BEARD 

Any sport which tends to keep our boys in the 
open is undoubtedly a good thing for the coming 
generation. The rod and the gun are neither of 
them instruments for indoor use, consequently a 
book devoted to the proper use of rod and gun is 
a book which tends to send our young people to 
the field, the forest, the river, and the lake ; which 
tends to brighten their eyes, strengthen their mus- 
cles, and to quicken their perception and their self- 
reliance. 

We must remember that all boys — yes, every 
one of them — will pick up the first firearm that 
comes within reach, and the danger of such an act 
is in proportion to the amount of their previous 
study and training in the handling and use of fire- 
arms. A well written book on the subject of the 
gun and rod is a much safer guide than the per- 
sonal direction of some one who does not know. 
Almost all the deplorable accidents with firearms 
are the result of lack of proper training among 
those who use these weapons. 

An amusing incident, which occurred at my log 
house on the shores of Big Tink in the mountains 



vi FOREWORD 

of Pike County, Pa., illustrates the attitude of all 
good sportsmen toward an untrained man or 
toward a man whom they do not know. 

Two men, both trained woodsmen and crack 
wing shots but strangers to each other, were my 
guests. Upon their arrival I informed them that 
the venison was about gone and that there was 
but one ruffed grouse left hanging in the gallery, 
adding that if they wanted a good dinner they had 
better take their guns and dogs and hustle for it. 

Never shall I forget the suspicion with which 
these men regarded each other and the searching 
looks which passed between them as the old-timers 
started away through the woods; how they 
watched each other like two feudists waiting for 
an opportunity to kill. Each well knew the dan- 
ger incurred in going afield with a chump and a 
gun. I enjoyed watching them for I had often 
hunted with each of them and I knew that they 
would not find one another wanting. Sure enough 
when they came back from the hunt, loaded with 
game, they came arm in arm. They had gained 
mutual confidence and a new but warm friendship. 

It is only a few days ago since the author of this 
book with his young son visited me at my log house 
at "Pike," as we all call it, and any one who had 
seen Mr. Miller casting on the lake would at once 



FOREWORD vii 

have recognised the fact that he was an adept, 
also any one who had seen his small son casting 
with the skill of a veteran would have been im- 
pressed with the fact that the author of this book 
is not only an adept himself but also a practical 
and capable instructor. 

Furthermore, any one who had watched the boy, 
with his quick, self-reliant movements, his erect 
carriage, clear eyes, and manly bearing could not 
but have been impressed with the great value of 
outdoor training. The boy himself is a better 
preface to this book than I can write. 

After all is said and done there is but one excuse 
for the men of to-day living in this world and 
that is to prepare the boys, the men of to-morrow, 
to run the world better. For, if the men of to-day 
are honest, they must confess that they have been 
guilty of some fearful and frightful bunglings in 
managing the world's affairs. 

Some years ago in writing for boys I invented 
the phrase "the boys of to-day are the men of to- 
morrow/ ' and the immediate use of that phrase 
by public men in sermons, editorials, speeches, and 
essays all over the English speaking world is the 
best guarantee that men realise the immense value 
of constructive character building work among 
boys. 



viii FOREWORD 

Any one who will attend a banquet of lawyers, 
doctors, merchants, or politicians and look over 
the faces and bodies of the men he sees before him 
and then look over the faces of the men at a ban- 
quet of the Camp Fire Club of America cannot but 
be impressed with the difference in the appear- 
ance of the men, a difference which forcibly em- 
phasises the beneficial effect of an outdoor life. 
In the Camp Fire Club of America there are law- 
yers, doctors, merchants, and politicians but they 
are of the outdoor type and the difference is so 
great between them and the ordinary city men 
that all guests at the speaker 's table of the club are 
struck with wonder and admiration for the crowd 
assembled on Camp Fire Night. 

Then let us give our boys an outdoor life, give 
them an opportunity to go to the open for their 
games and recreation, and I know of no better 
way to stimulate a desire for this than to put into 
their hands books of the outdoor world, books 
such as Mr. Miller writes. 




Log House, Pikh County, Pa., April, 1016 




WARREN H. MILLER 
Editor, Field and Stream 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

"The Boys' Book of Hunting and Fishing" was 
written because there seems to be no book now in 
print which will tell the youth of twelve to eighteen 
years age how to start right in learning these fine 
arts of the outdoors, and how to get tackle and 
equipment which will not be out of reach of a 
young fellow's pocketbook, yet will be just the 
right thing for the beginner, honestly made, not 
having perhaps the wearing qualities of more ex- 
pensive outfits, but efficient and capable for the 
purpose — which most cheap goods are not, from 
the very start ! 

The boy's books of the woodcraft type do not 
fulfil this requirement, for they stop just where 
the growing boy wants information ; they tell him 
all about woodcraft and nothing about the right 
tackle to get and how to use it for trout and bass ; 
nothing on how to learn to be a good wing shot and 
what guns and gauges to start in with ; and little 
on how to camp out for weeks at a time with a 
light yet comfortable outfit, and one that will not 
make them liable to cold from exposure, or sick- 

ix 



x AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

ness from improper food. The men's books on 
camping, fishing and wing shooting cover these 
subjects thoroughly, but they suggest outfits that 
are altogether out of the financial means of any 
but rich boys, and no fellow has a right to ask his 
father for equipment that costs far more than the 
presents that his brothers and sisters get, and that 
father himself, perhaps, can hardly afford to pur- 
chase. Yet there is good cheap equipment, — good 
enough for any beginner, man or boy, — on the 
market, but you must know what to look for to 
seek it out. 

Again, most boys like to make their own outfits 
from the raw material, as being cheaper and add- 
ing zest to the game, particularly in camping out- 
fits. The author has camped, fished and hunted 
since a boy of ten, and, having been so poor that 
nearly all his own outfits of that date had to be 
made by himself, has borne this well in mind in 
penning the chapters of this book. 

It will be noted that the chapters on hunting are 
almost exclusively wing shooting, only one chap- 
ter on the rifle being included. My reason for this 
is that the shotgun is not only the most suitable 
weapon for boys, as being safer and more capable 
of getting game within a boy's reach, but profi- 
ciency in the use of the shotgun is the best possible 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi 

training for skill in the use of the rifle in shooting 
big game. Military shooting, as it is now prac- 
tised, is based on an entirely different set of con- 
ditions than big game shooting. The latter is 
practically wing shooting with the rifle, where a 
quick, accurate sight at bounding big game, going 
at full speed, must be taken and a hit scored. It 
has been the author's experience that boys under 
the age of eighteen have not the development and 
endurance needful for the hunting of big game, 
while, on the other hand, they can become quite 
as skilful as the men in upland and marsh bird 
shooting. The rifle, however, that boys can be- 
come intimately familiar with and masters of, is 
the .22 and its near relatives and cousins — rifles 
of comparatively low power but extreme accuracy. 
Such game as woodchuck, fox, rabbit, squirrel, etc., 
is fair game for the boy with his rifle, and skill in 
its use should be attained between the ages of 
twelve and sixteen years. 

Again let me reiterate that this book is written 
with the poor boy in mind. There is a tremen- 
dous amount of shoddy outdoor goods on the mar- 
ket, and the average salesman unloads it on the 
innocent and confiding boy, who trusts him im- 
plicitly and parts with his hard-earned pennies for 
tackle and equipment that is entirely unsuitable 



xii AUTHORS PREFACE 

for real game fish or real camping or wing shoot- 
ing. While it has not been possible to name 
brands of rod, reel, line and lure as good yet 
cheap, I have given specifications which are met 
by goods now offered for sale at a low price by 
reliable houses, and it is up to the boys themselves 
to ferret out the goods. Knowing just what you 
want, and about what you ought to pay, it ought 
not to be hard to select outfits that will start you 
right. The rest is practice — and enjoyable prac- 
tice, too — the only school of which you will never 
tire, if you live to be ninety years young ! 

Interlaken, N. J., April, 1916. 



CONTENTS 
PART ONE: ANGLING FOR BOYS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Battling Bass and Wily Trout .... 21 
II The Tackle to Get and How to Use It — 

Black Bass 30 

III The Tackle to Get and How to Use It — 

Fly Casting fob Trout 41 

IV Kinks on Catching Game Fish .... 49 

PART TWO: SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

I First Lessons with the Hand Trap . . 59 

II Choosing a Gun ...... . .. ... . 67 

III The "Ping Pong" Trap ...... 77 

IV Practice with the Standard Trap ... 85 
V The Swift and Spiteful Twenty Gauge . 92 

VI The First Day at the Gun Club ... 103 

VII A Day in the Uplands ...... 114 

VIII Shore Bird Shooting . 127 

IX Duck Shooting — Anticipation .... 148 

X Duck Shooting — Realization .... 155 

XI A Chapter on the Rifle 162 

xiii 



xiv CONTENTS 

PART THREE: CAMPING FOR BOYS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Boy Camps of Long Ago ...... 185 

II Hiking _. . 196 

III The Hunting and Fishing Camp . . . 204 

IV Camp Cookery 216 

V All About the Different Tents . . . 229 

VI Camp Fires ..... ... ..... 241 

VII Woodsmanship 254 

VIII Living off the Forest . . . . . . 269 

IX Permanent Camps ...„-, t . t .. . . 280 



LIST OF ILLTTSTKATIONS 

PAGE 

Warren H. Miller, Editor Field and Stream . . ix 

His Luck ........ ... ... 22 

Chums . ± . 24 

An Eight-Pound Large Mouth Bass ...... 24 

A Typical Mountain Brook Trout Stream . . . 28 

Bully Good Bass Water .... ... ... ... . 32 l 

Casting from Shore . . ^ _ A . . . A A . 32 * 

Bait Casting Kods . ... .. A . . A . . _. 34 

Bait Casting Reels . . A A A .- . A ... . 34 

The Proper Grip .... ... ... .. .. ... . 34 

Landing a Pike on the Fly Rod .. . . ... .. .. 36 

Fly Fishing for Bass . . . . .. , M . . 36 

Fly Fishing Tackle .... . ... .. .. _. . 44 

Eastern and Western Brook Trout . > ... 46 

Deep Water Trout Fishing . . -. . . > . 50 

A Boy Muskallonge Fisherman . . . . . . 52 

A Six-Pound Pike . • . . . . .... 52 

Some Prizes for the Bait Casting Outfit .... 54 

The Hand Trap and Single-Barreled Shot Gun . 60 

The Proper Straight Stock . >. A ... A A L .. 72 
A Comparison in Gun Sizes . . . . . . .72^ 

Breaking Them 88 

First Lessons in Wing Shooting 94 v " 

XV 



xvi ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



A Boy's Gun Club at Practice 106 

Pepper and the Kid Starting for a Rabbit Hunt . 116 
Our Beagles and Some Rabbits . ... . .. A 116 

A Setter, Pointing a Bevy of guail . .. . ... . 116 

The Ruffed Grouse ... . A ... .. ... ... . ,. A 124 

The Pointer ...... .. a . ... ^ . 4 . 124 

Snipe Decoys Set Out ........ . # . 132 

The Kid and Some of His Plover ...... 132 

An Alligator Hunt 132 

Making Good at Trapshooting 150 

Broadbill Decoys Anchored Off a Point .... 158 

A Mallard Hide in the Wild Rice 158 

Throwing Out the Decoys 158 

The Most Popular Big-Game, the White-Tailed Deer 164 

Some Fine Wyoming Elk 170 

The Author and His Cowboy Chum in Camp in Mon- 
tana . . . 170 

Bringing Out Your Moose Head . A A ... ... . 170 

The Pendulum Deer Target A ... .. A . ± .. 174 

Some .22 Repeating Rifles . ... . ... . .. . 176 

Some .22 Single Shots . . . . .. ± . . . 176 

The King of American Predatory Game ...... 180 

The Old-Fashioned Heavy Wall Tent, with 

Fly 190 

The Author's Tent Home-Made When He Was a 

Boy of Twelve Years 190 

The Dan Beard Tent 198 

The Forester Tent 198 

A Camping Outfit for Boys ....... 208 



ILLUSTRATIONS xvii 

PAGE 

The Author's Perfect Shelter Tent 214 

Off for a Week's Camp 214 

The Boy Scout Cook Kit 222 " 

The Stopple Cook Kit 222 

The Forester Cook Kit 222 

An Encampment of the Camp Fire Club . . . 234 

In Camp in a Forester Tent 234 

The Western Miner's Tent 234 

The Indian Fire . 246 

The Nessmuk Backlog Fire 246 ^ 

The Indian Teepee 274 

A Primitive Cook Kit 275 



PAET ONE: ANGLING FOR BOYS 



THE BOYS' BOOK OF 
HUNTING AND FISHING 

PART ONE: ANGLING FOR BOYS 
CHAPTER I 

BATTLING BASS AND WILY TKOUT 

Two boys went fishing in a mountain lake, lo- 
cated — well, anywhere from Maine west to Wis- 
consin and south to Virginia and Kentucky — take 
your choice ! It was a lake with lily pads and tree 
stumps along its shores, and there were woods 
along the banks to camp in, with maybe a circle of 
forested hills surrounding it. One boy had his 
boat anchored out near a little rocky islet, and was 
still-fishing in eight feet of water with a worm, a 
dobber and a cane pole for big sunnies and perch. 
The other had a canoe and was paddling slowly 
along the shores, just outside the lily pads, and 
casting his lure at likely looking places where 
game fish might lurk. He possessed a wonderful 
accuracy with that rod and lure, and at nearly 
every cast sent it true to the chosen spot, maybe 
forty, fifty or sixty feet away, to some small bay 

21 



22 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

in the lily pads or quiet pool in front of a stump 
sometimes no bigger than a straw hat. 

Presently the boy in the boat got a bite. A de- 
cided jiggle dipped his float and then it went under 
completely. He gave the pole a yank, and in a 
few seconds brought up a large orange-bellied sun- 
fish weighing maybe half a pound, which came 
flopping over the side and was soon seized and 
strung with a lot of others on a fish line dangling 
over the side. The boy in the canoe went on cast- 
ing. His lure sailed out and landed — ker chunk! 
right into the lair of a foxy old black bass. The 
boy started reeling it back when suddenly there 
was a furious splash, the water boiled around the 
lure and instinctively the boy struck. Instantly 
the old demon leapt clear out of water, shaking 
his head in a frantic effort to throw the lure ; the 
boy gasped with excitement, but in the rush that 
followed his fingers were barked by the spinning 
reel handle and the bass would have gotten away 
except for the boy's ready left thumb which was 
braking hard on the reel spool. Then the bass 
turned and rushed towards the boat, while the boy 
grabbed the reel handle and reeled in line furi- 
ously, for to give that fish a single foot of slack 
meant to lose him. Under he went, straight under 
the canoe, but again the boy was master, for, giv- 




"HIS LUCK 

Taken on an inexpensive fly fishing- outfit. 

is on wrong- end of butt for good balance. 



Note, however, that reel 



BASS AND TROUT FISHING 23 

ing him line as he thumbed the reel, the boy dex- 
terously turned the canoe with his paddle, bring- 
ing the bass beyond the boat again and going 
strong, evidently bound for some hidden snag 
that he knew of where the line could be tangled up 
and broken. This would never do, so setting 
back hard on the rod the boy opposed its full 
strength to the bass' tactics and soon turned him. 
This time he came up to the surface with a mag- 
nificent splash and the boy's heart pounded wildly 
as he dipped the rod tip and pulled him down 
again. 

" Jingo! another like that and he's off! Go it, 
you beauty ! ' ' he exclaimed exultingly. Again the 
bass started for the canoe, this time near the sur- 
face, the boy reeling like mad, and, taking advan- 
tage of the fish's momentum, he gave the rod a flip 
and the next instant the big bronze and green fel- 
low was thrashing wildly about in the bottom of 
the canoe while the boy grabbed him in both hands. 
"Gee! He'll go three pounds! Some battle! 
Eh, what!" he whooped, holding him up by the 
gills. He despatched the bass mercifully with his 
hunting knife, tied him through the gills to the 
canoe cross bar and resumed his casting. 

Now, which of those boys would you rather be, 
the one indolently watching a float and now and 



24 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

then pulling up a half-pound sunfish or perch, or 
this one who had learned the angler's art of bait 
casting and has been rewarded by a thrilling bat- 
tle with a big game fish. You can become either. 
Age has got nothing to do with it for the boy that 
had the battle with the bass was ten years old. I 
know him well; in fact, he is my own son. The 
other boy was thirteen but the lily pads meant 
nothing to him — that kind of fishing he thought 
was for men, he was going after sunnies and perch, 
even in the very lake where he knew bass and pike 
and pickerel were to be caught — IF one knows 
how! 

Pocket book has little to do with it. The rod, 
reel and line used by the boy who caught the bass 
cost, all together, under three dollars ; he got the 
reel for his Christmas present (it cost Santa Claus 
about two dollars) ; the rod came with a subscrip- 
tion to a certain sportsman's magazine (it has 
landed a 21-pound muscallonge), and the line was 
the only thing he had to save up his allowances 
for. It cost 75 cents for 50 yards of it. Surely 
anything that will put you in the way of having 
all that sport is worth saving up for to buy the 
necessary tackle. 

After getting the equipment the boy had to put 
in many an hour learning, first how to cast with- 



BASS AND TROUT FISHING 25 

out back lashing or snarling up the line with the 
reel, and second, how to get sureness and accuracy 
so as to land the lure on any spot desired even if as 
much as eighty feet away. And learning this is 
good fun for any boy, as much fun as shooting a 
rifle, for every cast is target practice of a high 
order, and to learn the game you have to get into 
a boat and row along casting as you go, at first 
with a discouraging period of dubbism and finally 
"arriving" at a reasonable proficiency, after 
which perfecting yourself in the art is a rare pleas- 
ure. 

In a word, the difference between the boy catch- 
ing sunnies and the one bait casting for bass is 
that one is just a fisherman and gets relatively lit- 
tle fun out of it, while the other is a sportsman ; 
he has acquired a fine and difficult art and he gets 
the thrill and excitement of many tussles with real 
game fish. Too difficult for a boy? Pshaw! 
Give him a chance and the proper rig and he will 
do as well as the men; look at the boys of seven 
to fifteen, and girls even, who win prizes with big 
game fish in the Juvenile Classes of the Field and 
Stream Prize Fishing Contest, held every year 
during the whole open season for bass, trout, mus- 
callonge and pickerel. 

It's up to you; bait casting and fly casting are 



26 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

no more difficult to learn than good baseball, ten- 
nis, sailing, football — any of the outdoor sports 
which boys take to as a matter of course, as soon as 
they get out of tops and marbles. It is the object 
of these chapters to tell you what to get and what 
to avoid, how to learn to use rod and line, and 
what tactics have to be used in hooking and land- 
ing the bulldog bass, the gamey trout, the wolfish 
pike and that tiger of the inland lakes, the mus- 
callonge. When twelve-years-old Jack White, the 
boy who goes fishing with Will Dilg, one of Amer- 
ica's greatest bass fishermen, landed a twelve- 
pound musky alone and unaided, he certainly 
showed that none of our game fish are beyond the 
reach of any boy's angling ability, provided that 
he keeps a cool head and plays the game accord- 
ing to the rules. 

Let us move the scene a little further north, into 
the home of the trout, though bass and trout 
waters do overlap to a certain extent. The fam- 
ily goes to the mountains for the summer and you, 
the boy, are with them — you bet! There are 
walks to take and waterfalls to see and there is 
lots of tennis, with maybe some baseball. But you 
get tired of batting a ball over a net — a sort of 
hard work that gets nowhere — and you long for 
some real sport. Aha ! a trout stream in the vi- 



BASS AND TROUT FISHING 27 

cinity, three miles away between Hawk Mountain 
and Old Baldy ! Do you cut an alder pole, dig up 
some worms, buy five cents' worth of line and a 
hook and go after them? No — by ginger, no! 
You have a 5-ounce fly casting rod, thirty yards of 
E line, a single click reel, some leaders and a few 
flies, say those old reliables — Parmacheene Belle, 
Coachman, Cow Dung, and Silver Doctor, and you 
put up a lunch and hike for that stream just as 
early as you can bolt a breakfast. Arrived there 
you know very well that that old worm and pin 
hook dodge won't work; these trout know far too 
much to go hang themselves on the first halter let 
down to them with a worm on it! Eather you 
keep out of sight and fish each pool upstream, be- 
cause you know that the trout lie with their heads 
upstream and cannot see back of them for a space 
covering an angle of about 30 degrees each way 
from their dorsal fin. You joint up the rod, put 
on the reel and string the line through the guides. 
Next the leader, already wetted and pliant, is tied 
on and finally a fly, fished dry or wet according 
to the water. You choose a fly resembling as 
nearly as possible the insects hovering over the 
stream, and then you are ready to cast. Look for 
a clear back cast, making sure that no overhanging 
boughs are going to snare your fly, and then start 



28 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

getting out line. Each i ' false ' ' cast, that is, a cast 
in which the fly is not allowed to drop in the pool, 
gets the fly out further and further as you strip 
line from the reel. Now you begin working the 
cast over some chosen spot — there's one alongside 
that big boulder, up near the head of the pool; 
there'll surely be a big one in there for they al- 
ways usurp the best places so as to get the first 
of everything coming down from the ripples 
above. Now your fly is hovering right over him. 
You let it fall and it hits the side of the rock and 
tumbles onto the swift, dark water. Instantly 
there is a flash in the depths and a pink mouth 
rushes at the fly. Now is the time to strike — you 
can't take it away from him if you try — and a sec- 
ond later will be too late. You strike and at the 
same time he jumps and hooks himself hard. Now, 
watch out! There's a lot of alder roots hanging 
down into the water from that east bank and he 
darts over there to hide and snag your leader. 
Look out! — keep him off — give him the butt! 
Glory be, he's coming down the pool! Did you 
ever see such chain lightning darting about in a 
clear sheet of water in your life ! Now he 's gone 
to sulk under the big rock; we'll have to get him 
out of there and work him down into the shal- 
lows. Chuck in a pebble — that's the stuff! now 



BASS AND TROUT FISHING 29 

we 've got him all over the pool again. Keep cool 
and strip in your line, holding it against the rod 
butt with your left forefinger as you go. Now 
work him into the shallows; now the net — head 
first — good! we've got him and did you ever see 
such a pretty trout in your life! He'll go thir- 
teen inches and he's as cold and firm as solid mus- 
cle can make him. 

Worth catching, eh! Some better than going 
over to Taylor's Pond after bullheads! Let's 
work upstream, casting every ripple and keeping 
a long eye out ahead for the next pool, for a new 
set of tactics will probably be wanted there. 

Such is trout fishing, another fine art; for fly 
casting is not to be learned in a day ; and also with 
that same rod and larger flies you can fish the big 
streams and small rivers in the Eastern and Cen- 
tral States for small mouth black bass who love 
swift, deep, rocky rivers and rise to the fly as spec- 
tacularly as any trout. Boys, it's worth while 
learning those two games ; bait casting and fly cast- 
ing, and as far as it can be told you on paper we 
are going to have a try at it. The rest is with 
you — given a good rod and reel, I'll bet that 
you'll fly at the practising part of it with all the 
zeal that you ever gave to any game — and then for 
the big game fish ! 



CHAPTER II 

THE TACKLE TO GET AND HOW. TO USE IT — BLACK BASS 

Thebe are two ways of taking the fighting black 
bass, viz. by bait-casting for him with the short 
rod and highspeed reel and by fly-casting with the 
standard fly rod, perhaps a trifle heavier than the 
usual thing for trout. Of the two, bait-casting is 
undoubtedly the more spectacular, harder to 
learn, and harder to land your fish when hooked. 
In principle bait-casting reverts to that old game 
that all country boys play of hurling an apple 
from the end of a pointed stick. You jab the 
stick through your apple, take aim at the oppos- 
ing boy and soak him with it, and the speed and 
accuracy with which that apple goes far exceeds 
anything that can be done with hand throwing. 
Many is the battle royal that we boys had in the 
old orchard using the sling stick, and many the 
hard sting from the bullet-like little green apples ! 
In the bait-casting outfit you have a short rod 5 
feet 6 inches long, a highspeed multiplying reel, 
a fine braided silk line of about 12 pounds break- 

30 



TACKLE FOR BLACK BASS 31 

ing strength, and a lure which may be a live frog, 
a pork minnow and spinner, or one of the numer- 
ous artificial lures. With this outfit you can cast 
that lure up to about 125 feet, and cast it with the 
greatest accuracy at the usual fishing distances of 
about 40 feet. An expert can pick up any one of 
a dozen floating objects at will with the hooks on 
his lure. 

Black bass lie in wait for their prey under the 
lily pads along their outer edges, under the roots 
of old stumps, under floats and docks, and in lairs 
under overhanging bushes; and woe betide any 
luckless minnow or frog which ventures out across 
their lurking places, There is a splash and a 
whirl and f roggie or minnow is grabbed and bolted 
whole before he hardly realises what has happened 
to him. The game is to work your boat slowly 
along about 50 feet outside the lily pads and cast 
every likely spot where a bass is apt to lie in wait. 
If artfully done, your lure so resembles a minnow 
or frog making a voyage of discovery that the bass 
at once strikes and is completely deceived, to his 
own undoing. Further than this, the bass is so 
pugnacious that he is apt to take a crack at almost 
anything struggling in the water or ploughing 
along on the surface ; he honestly believes that he 
is the boss of that whole lake and he will pounce 



32 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

on anything that appears to be making hostile 
demonstrations. It is this quality that lies at the 
success of many artificial top water lures looking 
unlike anything under the sun or the waters be- 
neath. So long as they struggle or throw up a 
splash they look good to Mr. Bass and he comes 
at them like a whirlwind. 

Getting back to the tackle, the rod used is best 
made of split bamboo and may cost anywhere from 
one to ten dollars. It is short and stiff, not too 
whippy nor too long, about your own height is 
good, and for ordinary fishing for bass, pickerel 
and pike — up to about four pounds — the dollar rod 
will answer very well. Such a rod will be two- 
piece for convenience in carrying and will have 
three guides of nickled steel, two on the tip and 
one on the butt piece. The reel seat is ahead of 
the grip, not behind it as in trout fishing. The 
bamboo used in these rods is machine fitted and 
of fair quality, amply good enough for so short a 
rod to withstand any strains put on it in fishing. 
For about three dollars a better mounted rod can 
be had with agate tip, which prolongs the life of 
the line considerably since it is the friction of the 
constant casting of the line through the tip guide 
which wears both it and the line out. However, 
for a boy beginning to learn bait-casting I would 




BULLY GOOD BASS WATER 

All these coves alorg shore deserve a cast from vour lure You 
Sn, n¥° n fM ■ the canoe, about the distance from shore of the fore" 
ground of this picture, and land your lure accurately in these coves 
reeling back immediately your lure touches the water. You may set 
a strike, any time, up to three feet from the boat 




CASTING FROM SHORE 

If you have no boat, cast from shore 



plug and is liable to get 
now up to a short distance 



This boy is using 
strike any time from where 
from his feet. 



a revolving 
the lure is 



TACKLE FOR BLACK BASS 33 

not advise a rod costing more than a dollar, at 
least for the first year or so. 

The reel is the most important article in the out- 
fit. Thousands of times during the day's fishing 
that reel spins at high speed, each time fifteen or 
twenty yards of line are cast off: it and its gears 
and journals need to be well made and kept well 
oiled. Then a big four-pounder gets hold of your 
lure and yanks unmercifully on the reel and will 
strip every gear in it if poorly made. About the 
cheapest bait-casting reel that can be relied upon 
costs $2 in brass, nickle plated. It should be quad- 
ruple multiplying, capable of spinning free at 
least sixteen seconds on one spin, rather wide in 
proportion to its diameter, and should hold 80 to 
100 yards of No. 5 line. It should be easily taken 
apart and should be cleaned and oiled after every 
day's fishing. The frame may have stout pins or 
stanchions or else be cut out of a solid cylinder 
like many of the "Take-apart" reels costing 
around three dollars. My own boy has used a $2 
Shakespeare reel for the last two years and it has 
never yet failed him during week after week of 
bait-casting for bass and pickerel and I won sev- 
eral tournaments with that same reel before I got 
a better one. 

The line used in bait-casting is of fine braided 



34 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

silk, the finer the better; avoid coarse thick lines 
as they are very hard to cast and all accuracy dis- 
appears as soon as any distance is introduced. As 
the wind is constantly drifting your boat while 
you are casting, you need accuracy at all sorts of 
distances and for this the fine light braided silk 
line is needed. A good all-round selection is the 
Kingfisher No. 5 of 12 pounds breaking strength 
costing about $1 for a spool of fifty yards, though 
there are many others nearly as good and cheaper, 
say 75 cents for 50 yards. 

Equipped with rod, reel and line, pick out any 
artificial lure weighing about an ounce and you 
are ready to learn the art. In casting only the 
forearm is used ; never swipe with your whole arm 
unless trying for a distance record. Begin the 
cast well over your shoulder with the rod point- 
ing backward nearly horizontal. Put most of 
the impetus of your cast in the beginning of the 
stroke and stop the rod when it is pointing for- 
ward at about 45 degrees or even less. The 
lure should fly out in a rather flat arc and your 
care will be to thumb the reel spool so as to pre- 
vent it over-travelling and causing a backlash. 
Here is the crux of the matter, getting that knack 
of delicate thumbing the reel, just enough to keep 
the spool from over running, not enough to retard 



BAIT CASTING RODS 

The top rod is a one-piece split bamboo with agate guides, 5 ozs., 
5 ft. 2 in. long, worth about $5.00. The second is the famous Field 
and Stream rod, 5 ozs., 5 ft. 6 in., two-piece, with nickeled steel 
guides, worth about $1.50; has caught a 21 lb. muskallonge. The 
third ro.d is all-steel, about $2.00; a good boy's rod, as it has no 
wrappings to come undone. The fourth is a short, 4 ft. trolling rod. 




BAIT CASTING REELS 

A good pne should spin 26 seconds without stopping. The two on the 
left hand are "takaparts," worth about $3.00, and on the right is one 
with a level winding attachment. A good, plain bait casting reel, 
good enough for anything but tournament casting, may be had for 
$2.00. The line costs 75 cents for 50 yards, 12 lb., braided silk. 




THE PROPER GRIP 

Note thumb resting on reel pillar, with tip just touching the surface 
of the drum; also position of forefinger and third, fourth and fifth 
fingers in casting. 



TACKLE FOR BLACK BASS 35 

the flight of the lure. The ball of your thumb 
rests solidly on one of the reel frame pillars and 
the tip of your thumb just touches the surface of 
the line on the spool. As the lure plays out, the 
thumb follows in on the drum (done by slightly 
raising your thumb knuckle). When the lure hits 
the water your thumb instantly stops the reel, the 
rod is transferred to your left hand and your right 
begins reeling in. Do not let the lure rest an in- 
stant but start it right back or the illusion of a 
minnow or a frog leaping into the water and swim- 
ming away is lost and the bass gets wise to your 
blandishments. In reeling in, keep the rod tip low 
and at right angles to the line so as to have maxi- 
mum room to strike in, for when a bass hits your 
lure it does not take him a second to find out that 
it is a fraud and you must strike quick and hard 
as soon as he does. Once hooked, the whole game 
is reel play. The rod is so short that it only has 
about two feet of bend and will not give and take 
for nine or ten feet the way a fly rod will, so that 
you must manage your fish from the reel. Some 
brake the reel by their left forefinger over the rod 
in front of the reel drum; others use their left 
thumb resting on the frame pillar. I prefer the lat- 
ter as it gives all the remaining four fingers to 
grip the rod. When the bass rushes let him go 



36 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

and brake the reel; as soon as he stops grab the 
reel handle and start him for the boat. Remem- 
ber that if he gets a foot of slack he will shake his 
head and flip the lure out of his mouth unless very 
securely hooked. So keep a tight line on him, take 
it easy, keep cool, don't yank anything or break 
tackle and try to tire him out. Work the boat 
into deep water and get him away from snags, 
underbrush and lily pad roots, for if he gets you 
tangled up in them it's all off! Learning ac- 
curacy, and getting over the dub period of hav- 
ing a backlash at nearly every cast is slow, uphill 
work, but the practice is great fun for there is a 
fascination about bait-casting exactly like in rifle, 
revolver and shot-gun practice. It is shooting at 
a mark, with no expenditure for ammunition, for 
you wind up your missile every time and shoot it 
again. But, by being careful not to get too 
strong with your cast, putting most of your im- 
pulse into the beginning of the cast, careful thumb- 
ing of the reel spool, and careful spooling of the 
line when you reel it in, you will make good prog- 
ress. My own boy got to be a fairly good caster 
in about a week's practice. By "spooling" the 
line is meant spreading it evenly on the reel spool, 
for, if allowed to bunch up anywhere, it will run 
out from under your thumb faster than the thumb 




LANDING A PIKE ON THE FLY ROD 

Note tvDicai fishing- skiff of the western lake region and large land- 
fng ne? Don't get one too small if you want to avoid losing big 
fish at the last moment. 




FLY FISHING FOR BASS 

Note larger reels and heavier rods than are used for trout; about 6 oz. 
steel or split bamboo is right. 



TACKLE FOR BLACK BASS 37 

can brake it and yon will surely get a backlash. 
Spooling is done by your left thumb, over which 
the line passes, and is laid back and forth over the 
reel drum by moving your thumb across the 
rod. 

Now, as to lures. For lilypad lakes where the 
large-mouth black bass flourishes, the most effec- 
tive are the live frog and the pork chunk or min- 
now, hung on a red Bing fly with a spinner in 
front. There is a special large weighted hook 
with a tie line for strapping the frog down by 
which he is tied around his waist, leaving his arms 
and legs free to move. After about twenty casts 
give your frog a rest, take him off and put him 
back in the pail, tying on a new one. The bass 
usually seizes a frog by his hind leg. Stop reel- 
ing and let him run off with it. You can feel him 
turn the frog and gulp him down, and then is the 
time to strike. I confess to a dislike for using 
live frogs for bait, and much prefer the pork 
chunk or minnow. The illustrations show how 
these lures are made. You have a large red 
"Bing" fly, weighted, costing about 50 cents. In 
front of this is a split ring, a brass swivel, a sec- 
ond split ring with a spoon in it, and another 
swivel ahead of it. In the bend of the hook is the 
pork chunk or minnow, the latter a four-inch strip 



38 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

of pork rind with an inch split at the end to make 
a forked tail. As this lure is reeled in past the 
lilypads, the spoon spins around, making a bright 
flash in the water to attract attention and at the 
same time making a waving current which wiggles 
the pork minnow as if alive. It will deceive any- 
bass, and as he always strikes for the red throat 
of a minnow, he strikes at the red fly and hooks 
himself. If fishing for pickerel, which always 
strike at the tail of a minnow, put on a treble hook 
in the bend of the big red fly hook, letting it dangle 
alongside the pork minnow, and Mr. Pickerel is 
pretty sure to hook himself when he strikes at the 
tail. 

For small-mouth bass in rocky waters without 
lilypads I have generally found the artificial lures 
good takers. They are easily cast, and are always 
ready for duty, and the bass seem to strike better 
at those that have plenty of red on them or at least 
a red stripe at the throat. Most of these lures 
are simply cast at likely spots and reeled in, the 
bass likely striking until within ten feet of the 
boat, but all the topwaters are fished on a different 
principle, the idea being to imitate something 
struggling on the surface of the water and not 
making any great progress at it either. Where- 
upon some bass concludes that here is a good meal 



TACKLE FOR BLACK BASS 39 

for him — a frog or something or other in difficul- 
ties and trying to keep himself afloat. 

Still other topwaters have a collar or revolving 
blades which flash, and to see that thing plough- 
ing insolently along on the surface is more than 
any pugilistic bass can stand. He'll show you 
who's boss of this lake !— Biff !— if he doesn't 
hook himself he will knock that plug at least six 
feet in the air! For lakes filled with small bass 
ranging around a pound in weight, the casting 
lures generally fail; the bass are too small and 
afraid of the lure. In that case put on a small 
spinner with a couple of sinkers to make it cast 
easier and all will be well. Or try them with flies ; 
one or the other will surely get results. 

All these lures are useful in their proper place 
— the pork minnow through and over the lilypads 
and in the pickerel weed; the red underwaters 
along rocky banks, overhung with trees and 
strewn with boulders, which form deep, dark lurk- 
ing places for piratical bass ; the topwaters in deep 
water, where one can hardly see bottom, but down 
there are the big fellows ; and the pork chunk for 
stumpy waters and shallow bays, up in the flags 
where big large-mouth bass are lying in wait for 
frogs. It is the judicious selection of these lures 
and the circumvention of the bass with them; the 



40 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

accuracy required to place them right in the 
proper spot ; and the coolness and skill required in 
handling these big gamey fish when hooked that 
make the angler's art of bait-casting so fascinat- 
ing, and I do not know of an outdoor sport more 
appealing to boys. And, when you combine it 
with a camp for a week on the shores of a good 
bass lake — say, fellah, shake ! 



CHAPTER III 

THE TACKLE TO GET AND HOW TO USE IT — ELY CASTING 
EOR TROUT 

I presume it is the poets, with their songs about 
the gossamer lines and fairy wands of the trout 
angler, that have spread the false impression that 
a trout line is something fine as a spider's web. 
At least that is the popular idea, and boys pick up 
the same notion from what they hear. But let 
us look at the fundamentals of taking a trout and 
then build up the proper tackle to fit the case. In 
the first place you must present him a fly, appar- 
ently detached from anything else, and in such a 
way that the trout has no idea that there is a hu- 
man connected with it in any way. That means 
distance from you to him, a line heavy enough to 
be cast that distance, and an invisible leader at 
least six feet long connecting the fly to this line. 
If the line was not heavy it would not shoot 
through the rod guides and that effectually dis- 
poses of any idea of using a thread for a trout 
line. "What you really cast is the line itself, and 
the leader and fly follow along because they are 

41 



42 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

tied to it. To cast a line you must have a long 
rod so as to put your throwing impulse into con- 
siderable weight of line • a short rod will not do be- 
cause when you have from forty to sixty feet of 
line out you cannot pick it up off the water at 
every cast unless your rod is long. Hence we get 
the standard trout tackle ; a light, pliant rod 9 to 
10 feet long; a heavy, tapered enamelled line; a 
light "gossamer" (that's where the gossamer 
comes in), leader and a fly. With these you can 
take trout ; without them not — unless he is a fool. 
You will note that the reel is hardly mentioned ; it 
is in reality the least important part of the out- 
fit, all it is for is to hold some 30 yards of trout 
line and occasionally it comes into play in handling 
the fish, but most anglers play him on the line 
alone, ' ' stripping ' ' it in as required and holding it 
under the left forefinger when taking a fresh hold 
on the line. The most important part of a trout 
outfit is, then, the rod. A good one costs money, 
for it is ten feet long against five for the bait-cast- 
ing rod and only the best bamboo, well fitted and 
wrapped every few inches will give a rod stiff 
enough yet pliant enough to cast the line and play 
the fish when hooked. However, for a boy, from 
$2.50 to $5 will buy a rod plenty good enough to 
begin with. It should have a cork grip with a 



THE TACKLE FOR TROUT 43 

strong reel seat at the butt of the rod, " snake' ' 
guides every foot along the rod, three joints with 
an extra tip, and silk windings spaced about four 
inches apart. The material will be of split bam- 
boo, the darker the better. Lancewood and steel 
have their advocates and the latter has the advan- 
tage for boys in that when neglected it will not 
deteriorate as rapidly as split bamboo, varnish 
and wrappings are sure to do. Lancewood is apt 
to lose its strength from dry rot if put away in a 
damp closet or garret, and, on the whole, the best 
action in your rod at a moderate expense is got- 
ten with split bamboo. Avoid the swinging ring 
guides, for the " snake' ' type are much surer and 
stronger. Be sure that the reel seat is below, not 
above, the handle. The latter place is for a bait- 
fishing rod and gives no balance for fly-casting. 
The line will cost you anywhere from one to seven 
dollars and its weight should fit the weight of the 
rod. For boys a 5-ounce rod 9 feet 6 inches or 
10 feet long will be about right and it needs a size 
E line which can be had of fair quality, not tapered, 
for a dollar for 30 yards. Leaders are made of 
fine single gut, knotted into six-foot lengths, with 
a loop at one end for the line and at the other for 
the fly. The < « mist ' ' colour is the most invisible in 
clear waters, and you will need two or more lead- 



44 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

ers for one is sure to get lost in snag or tree. The 
reel should be a plain, single, click reel costing 
from 50 cents to a dollar and the flies, half a dozen 
of each, need not be of more than four or five vari- 
eties, the best known killers in the part of the coun- 
try you expect to fish. For all-round flies, the 
ones that appear to be almost universal in their 
attractiveness are Parmacheene Belle, a white fly 
with red whisp of a tail; Coachman, a brown fly 
with white wings; Cow Dung, a brown fuzzy 
specimen with brown wings ; and some highly col- 
oured type, such as Silver Doctor or Montreal. 

Having the tackle the next thing is how to use 
it, and the first lesson is how to cast. All begin- 
ners thrash the rod about like a whip and wonder 
that no matter how much force they put into it 
the line fails to respond. The reason is that you 
are not giving the rod a chance. After you get 
through, the rod, being springy and having a 
heavy line on it, wants to keep on, so that it may 
even touch the ground behind you and is then in 
no position to cast the line. 

Let us begin this way ; with say, ten feet of the 
line out on the water in front of you, strip a yard 
off the reel with your left hand and raise the rod 
smartly, tip first. That action will not only throw 
the line upward and backwards but it will take 



THE TACKLE FOR TROUT 45 

along the yard of line that you stripped. Now 
when your rod is perpendicular stop your hand 
(the whole movement is from your elbow to your 
wrist only). The line keeps on going backwards 
and bends the rod back with it. Pretty soon the 
line will straighten out backwards, straight back 
from your rod tip; it has bent the rod all it can 
and now the rod of its own accord begins to 
switch it forward. You can feel that instant dis- 
tinctly in the action of the rod. Now is your time 
— you give it an impulse forward with the wrist 
only, and, as it shoots out forward, you strip a lit- 
tle more line off the reel and this goes out along 
with the forward cast and the whole thing rolls 
out straight ahead on the water, At the same 
time leader and fly straighten out beyond the line 
and the fly drops like a feather with no visible 
connection between it and the line. Now suppose 
a trout were lying there with his head upstream 
and that fly fell just in front of his nose — wouldn't 
he take it? Of course he would, unless there was 
something suspicious about the fly itself. There 
would be a flash and a pink mouth rushing at the 
fly and you'd have to strike right off or he would 
beat you to it and reject the fly before you could 
possibly set the hook. 

Well, anyway, you had ten feet of line out, now 



46 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

you have sixteen, not counting the leader and fly. 
Lift the rod and make another cast, stripping line 
off the reel so that with the next forward impulse 
yon will have 22 feet. There's an art about be- 
ginning the cast that you might as well learn right 
now: Lift the rod high at the butt at the start, 
the object being to lift the line gently from the 
water before beginning to snap it backwards. A 
careless fisherman will whip it right back without 
trying to lift it off the water, with the result that 
his line cuts a regular streak across the water and 
frightens every trout into his hiding place. The 
fine art is to so lift your line that the fly jumps off 
it without a drag or a ripple— the chances are a 
trout will jump after it then and there ! Be care- 
ful about beginning your forward cast until your 
back cast is all through; give the line time to 
straighten out behind, for if you start it back too 
soon it will be snapped like a whip and the fly will 
get snapped off in a few such casts. And above 
all, do not let your rod butt go back of perpendicu- 
lar ; its own springiness alone will take its tip back- 
wards some forty degrees back of perpendicular 
and if you add to this with your wrist it will go 
back almost horizontal and have no leverage on the 
line for the forward cast, in fact you are handi- 
capped almost as much as if you had a short rod. 




EASTERN" AND WESTERN BROOK TROUT 

On the left, the beautiful Eastern brook trout; right, the Western cut- 
throat trout, found in all the Rocky Mountain streams. 



THE TACKLE FOR TROUT 47 

The above describes the ordinary overhead cast. 
It requires some practice to get the knack of and 
to perfect oneself in, but not nearly so much as in 
bait-casting. It can be used in all streams where 
there is room for a back-cast, and the novice will 
have no trouble in getting out thirty to forty or 
even fifty feet of line with it — ample enough for 
most trout streams and too much for the majority 
of them. 

The next thing to learn is the false cast. Say 
you have discovered a trout up near the head of 
a pool, or else good water where there is likely to 
be one. Now if you go splashing about that pool 
with your lure you will probably scare him, and if 
you climb around where he can see you it's all 
off. The thing to do is to get out lure without al- 
lowing your fly to touch the water until it is being 
cast right over him and then drop it on his nose. 
To do this we make false casts, that is we begin 
with, say, twenty feet of line in the air, stripping 
and casting, recovering each forward cast before 
the fly touches the water, gradually lengthening 
our line and working it over to the trout's position 
until it can be dropped right in front of him. The 
trick is not to let your rod go much forward of 
the perpendicular and begin your forward impulse 
a little earlier. Instead of aiming to cast forward 



48 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

over the water, try to cast at a point up in the 
trees. Your wrist now stops the rod a little back 
of perpendicular, and you start your back cast 
the minute the fly stretches out in the air ahead 
of your line and before it begins to fall. A little 
practice will get the knack, and still more, casting 
at a hoop floating in the water, will give you ac- 
curacy. Begin at thirty feet (which is easy), in- 
crease gradually until you get up to fifty feet, 
which is about the limit for accurate work. 

On the stream you will need rubber boots or 
waders to really get all the fishing that is possible, 
for bank fishing is limited, by lack of room for a 
back cast, to very few possibilities. Much good 
water will be inaccessible for lack of waders and 
many fine spots will be hopeless because the bushes 
back of you are too thick to cast. 

A creel or basket is useful, but not necessary, 
and a landing net is almost essential, as a trout 
is never more likely to get off than when right at 
your feet in the shallows and seemingly played 
out and ready to pick up by hand. 



CHAPTER IY 

KINKS ON CATCHING GAME FISH 

In our last chapter on fly fishing for trout we 
outlined what is known among anglers as the "wet 
fly" method of trout fishing. This is uniformly 
successful in troubled waters and in wild and lit- 
tle fished streams, where the trout have scarce 
learnt to regard human beings as deadly enemies 
and will take any old bunch of tinsel and feathers 
that looks like a fly. But, like all wild things, 
trout are a good deal smarter than the uninitiated 
give them credit for, and soon learn that any one 
along the banks of the stream, particularly if he 
waves a rod, is an enemy, and they soon learn that 
any fly which does not resemble a real insect is apt 
to have a deadly sting in its tail. The success of all 
four of the flies given in our last, Parmacheene 
Belle, Coachman, Cow Dung and Gray Palmer, is 
because they all closely resemble native insects, 
the Parmacheene looking very like a small white 
moth, the Coachman resembling a certain brown- 
winged beetle, which, with its white under wings, 
sometimes drops spent on the water, and the other 

49 



50 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

two resemble common wood flies and gray moths 
respectively. In May the Yellow Sally is a par- 
ticularly effective fly because of the great hatch 
of May flies which occurs in May and part of June. 
It is only recently that an American angler and 
artist, Mr. Louis Khead-, made a systematic study 
of the native insects of our trout streams, tied 
flies in imitation of these insects, and reported the 
results in Field and Stream. But in England the 
trout have been " educated' ' for a long time, and 
it is necessary to do more than get out a cast of 
flies to take them, so that the English method 
known as "dry fly" fishing has come into vogue 
in which not only are all the flies tied in exact imi- 
tation of the natural insect but this imitation, the 
cast being a single fly, not two, is dropped on the 
surface of the water where it floats with the cur- 
rent, precisely as does the natural insect when 
spent. If there is no suspicious drag of the 
leader visible in the water the deception is com- 
plete and the trout rises. This method is com- 
paratively new in our country as the flies must be 
especially tied with bristles and wings cocked to 
make them float, and not many of our flies are so 
tied or attempt to imitate any particular insect. 
However, those that do — and there are quite a few 
of them that any boy can pick out after spending 





! 




p g- ►o 

3 05 ^j 




— P > 






S?s S 






<T> ~ H 






^S » 






V c+ H 






S'3 W 












P i ,_, 






o *I 






<*3 so 







O P 




PIKE AND MUSCALLONGE 51 

a day studying the insects of his particular trout 
stream — can be made to float by using "dry fly 
oil" or paraffine. It comes in a small bottle with 
a stopper to which a brush is attached. Daub 
your fly over with this and it will float nicely, even 
in troubled turbulent water, and will be a great 
killer, for our trout are wary of wet flies coming 
downstream under water but easily deceived by 
one which floats. After a few casts in rough water 
your paraffined fly will get wet and sink under, but 
a few false casts dry it enough to make it float 
again. The oil gradually washes out, so that it 
needs a new daubing every quarter hour or so, but 
I have found the dry fly method more taking than 
wet in most eastern trout streams. In very 
rough waters, where the natural fly is always 
sucked under and drowned before he reaches the 
trout, the wet fly method will always be successful 
even more so than the dry, but for fishing quiet 
pools and swift water not too white, the floating fly 
is the thing — fished upstream or across the stream, 
of course, and stripped in gradually as it floats 
towards you. 

There are three species of trout which are found 
in the Eastern and Central States; native brook 
trout (salvelinus fontinalis) ; European introduced 
brown trout, which can thrive in waters warmer 



52 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

than the native trout can stand ; and rainbow trout, 
which do not leap but are fine fighters for all that. 
Further west the cutthroat and bullhead trout 
swarm in the Rocky Mountain streams, together 
with steelheads, rainbows and native Salvelinus. 
These run large and prefer a spinner, or a spoon 
made of the belly of a whitefish, or else they will 
take a grasshopper — in any case rising to the fly 
also, which they want large; Royal Coachman in- 
stead of plain, etc. In all these trout, from East to 
West, the best fishing is got wading up stream be- 
cause the trout cannot see back himself for 30 de- 
grees on each side of the dorsal fin and he in- 
variably lies head upstream. If you must fish 
from the bank conceal yourself from view and 
either drop the fly through the alders or willows 
and spin it on the surface, or cast from a point out 
of sight behind the bank. I have seldom fished a 
stream so wild that neglect of these simple pre- 
cautions has not resulted in frightening the trout, 
putting them all down and spoiling the water for 
several hours. 

In fly fishing for bass no such precautions are 
necessary. The boat is in plain sight as it floats 
along past likely spots, and the casts are made 
forty and fifty feet long dropping the fly over likely 
looking lurking places. The bass does not care a 




A BOY MUSKALLONGE FISHERMAN 

Jack White, 11 years old, who caught a 12-lb. Muskallonge in the 

Field and Stream National Fishing Contest. 




A SIX-POUND PIKE. Note lure in pike's mouth. 



PIKE AND MUSCALLONGE 53 

whoop about the boat and has no fear of man or 
devil. He sees apparently a juicy fly above him 
and when he starts for it strike quick and hard, 
for the only place you can sink a hook is in his 
tongue, the mouth being of bony cartilage studded 
with many tiny sharp teeth. If he gets an instant 
to taste that fly he discovers and spits out the 
fraud faster than you can strike. In playing him 
the same line-stripping tactics are resorted to as 
with trout besides handling the boat when he tries 
to go under it. As the rod follows his every move 
with the fatality of Nemesis, he is much easier 
played than with the short bait casting rod and 
high speed reel. The bass fly rod, however, must 
be a fine stick of bamboo to withstand his rushes 
and head him off when he starts for the snags — not 
less than 5 ounce weight being strong enough. 
While a ten to fourteen inch trout is an event in 
the East, bass may run from four to five pounds, 
and he puts up a much sterner fight because of his 
weight. 

Following the bass come the Esox tribes — pike, 
pickerel, and muscallonge. The pickerel is not 
much fun on the bait casting rod because he will 
turn somersaults out of water and is easily 
brought to boat, but on a fly rod, taken with a 
large white fly, he yields an excellent fight. They 



54 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

average from one to two pounds and a three or 
four pounder is quite a fish. With the bait casting 
rod any minnow, plug, or spoon is effective, pro- 
vided that it has a treble hook in the tail. All the 
Esox families pounce on their prey from behind, 
while the bass strikes at the throat, and that big 
shovel-shaped jaw of the pickerel is solid bone 
with a lot of rat teeth studded around it. A single 
hook will invariably go flat and pull out between 
his jaws unless he has swallowed your lure, but a 
treble hook always presents one of the three in 
catching position while the other two lie flat 
against upper or lower jaw bone. Pike, especially 
the Great Northern pike or "pickerel," are much 
larger than the true pickerel which has never been 
known to exceed eight pounds. They average four 
or five pounds weight, and specimens up to 27 
pounds are common. Spoons, spinners and the 
pork rind minnow are the best takers for bait cast- 
ing along the outer edges of the lilypads, and for 
deep trolling a large spinner with live minnow is 
always good. 

The muscallonge, the largest of the tribe, is com- 
mon in the Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northern Michi- 
gan and Ontario lakes, and may run up to forty 
pounds though averaging 12 to 25. He is taken 
trolling with spoon and bait casting rod, over beds 




SOME PRIZES FOR THE BAIT-CASTING OUTFIT 
Great Northern Pike; 27% lbs. and 26*4 lbs. 



PIKE AND MUSCALLONGE 55 

where he is known to lie, also bait casting for him 
with large artificial minnows. Once on he puts up 
a spectacular fight and takes half an hour or more 
to land. The line should be braided silk of about 
20 pounds breaking strength with a copper leader 
two feet long, for his teeth are pretty apt to saw 
through a gut leader or the line itself if attached 
directly to the plug. Any bait casting rod will 
answer provided it is reasonably stiff and strong. 
A 21 pound muscallonge was recently landed on 
the two-piece split bamboo rod given away as a 
premium by Field and Stream and costing in the 
open market not over a dollar. 

In general the "star" times to fisH are early 
morning and from four to seven in the evening 
when the wind has died down and the sun sets over 
lake and stream in a blaze of burnished glory. At 
these two times the fish are about and stirring and 
will notice anything that looks like food. At mid- 
day, in common with all other wild things, they 
become apathetic and you might as well enjoy 
yourself about camp and rest up for the evening's 
fishing. With trout the same conditions hold to a 
lesser extent, the condition of the water and the 
rise of insects being more important than the time 
of day. 

There are a thousand kinks and knacks in the 



56 ANGLING FOR BOYS 

art of angling which any bright boy will quickly 
pick up from older anglers ; the thing is to get the 
right outfit and get started. A generation ago 
boys were loath to travel much in search of sport ; 
if there was no bass or trout fishing near home 
they did not go at all or contented themselves with 
sunfish and perch. Nowadays they realise that a 
dollar or so for carfare to some secluded lake is 
money well spent particularly if a tent and camp- 
ing outfit is taken along. Fishing for the game 
fish is good, exciting sport. I have tried in these 
articles to sketch out what it is like and to indi- 
cate tackle that is good yet inexpensive, well 
within range for a Christmas or birthday present, 
and not out of reach of pocket money savings if 
you go at it gradually. While only the most ele- 
mentary directions have been given in the small 
space available what I have written is advice that 
boys of my acquaintance have used to start in right 
with. You will soon make angler friends among 
the men, who are only too glad to help any am- 
bitious boy sportsman along, and who will tell you 
many more of the finer points of the game than I 
have had space for. Try it, boys, you who love 
the woods and streams, and learn what a vast dif- 
ference there is between "just fishing' ' and real 
angling for the fighting breeds of game fishes. 



PAET TWO: SHOOTING FOE BOYS 



PART TWO: SHOOTING FOR BOYS 
CHAPTER I 

FIRST LESSONS WITH THE HAND TRAP 

The Boy in this story, it should be explained be- 
forehand, had been down to Barnegat on a surf 
fishing and snipe shooting camp in the sand dunes, 
where for three days he popped away in the blinds 
with the grown men of the expedition, giving a 
very good account of himself indeed and turning 
in thirty-four birds out of forty-seven shells. He 
used a light 4% pound Stevens single-shot 28- 
gauge with automatic ejector, a hard-shooting lit- 
tle weapon, and with his light charges of % ounce 
No. 10's did quite as well as we men did with our 
big twelve-gauge guns and No. 8 shot. Every- 
thing from willets to lesser yellowlegs went down 
before that spiteful little gun, topping off with a 
marsh hawk shot for a specimen, and all of the 
Kid's shots were on the wing, too! In all it was 
a record to make any boy of ten years' age ac- 
quire a swelled head. But his stern father did not 
consider that he had any more than just begun to 

59 



60 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

learn the art of wing shooting. The boy showed 
unusual promise, that was all, but I could see no 
reason for deviating from that long course of trap 
and field shooting that teaches one perfect form 
with the shotgun. And let me tell you that, much 
as I love fine work with the grooved bore, good 
rifle shooting eventually leads to the same art as 
the shotgun — quick, accurate gun pointing. The 
military shot may take his time and land in the 
thousand-yard bull'seye after due calculation of 
windage and mirage, but what the woodsman and 
the big game sportsman needs is the ability to take 
a swift and accurate aim at moving objects — say, a 
flying deer or an elk at a hundred yards — and get 
him ! And this can only be done by the man who 
has had good form in handling a gun drilled into 
him from his youth. So the Boy, for all his fine 
record, started right in at the foot of the ladder, 
the hand trap at short ranges, set with an easy 
spring. This trap is shown in our pictures. It 
costs five dollars and three or four boys who are 
anxious to become wing shots will do well to club 
in and get one as it is money well spent, for being 
a good wing shot is an accomplishment that every 
gentleman should take pride in and the time to 
learn it is when you are a boy. With this trap 
you can throw clay pigeons quite as fast and accur- 




THE HAND TRAP AND SINGLE-BARRELED SHOT GUN 
All the equipment needed to learn wing shooting 



FIRST LESSONS IN SHOOTING 61 

ately as with the standard fixed trap, and it can 
be carried easily to any specified spot where you 
have room to practise without danger of hitting 
any passing wagons or automobiles. It imitates 
fairly well the flight of the different game birds 
and is just the thing for all kinds of "surprise 
fire" stunts. The regulation trap spring, throw- 
ing arm, and finger holder have been transplanted 
to an iron frame shaped like a large horse pistol, 
weighing six pounds (about the same weight as a 
boy's shotgun), and it can be loaded and fired by 
any boy; that is, there is nothing about the 
handling of it that requires a man's strength. 
The boy carrying it has a canvas bag slung over 
his shoulder containing clay pigeons — those little 
four-inch black-and-yellow saucers which make 
such a satisfactory target for the shot-gun — and 
walks along behind the shooter, firing a clay pigeon 
at unexpected moments and at any angle that suits 
his fancy. 

Of course we did not begin that way. The 
easiest shot, and the one that every man who goes 
afield should be the best acquainted with, is the 
low, straight-away "quail" shot directly ahead, 
much as the central bird in a covey of quail flies. 
Indeed it is this shot which is always given the 
visiting sportsman down South, where our chival- 



62 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

rous hosts insist upon your taking the station just 
behind the pointing dog, since there is always one 
quail which will fly directly away from the dog 
thus giving the visitor the surest shot. It was 
this bird that I started the boy in upon. Kneeling 
beside him I tilted the trap at a slight angle, told 
him just where the bird would go, and even allowed 
him to put his gun to shoulder before springing 
the trap. Eesult of our first shot, a clean miss! 
Hooray for Barnegat! There was a wire fence 
just twenty yards in front of us, which gave me 
an accurate guess as to how far away the bird 
was when he fired. He had shot miles too soon, 
blazing away before the bird was hardly over the 
fence. Now, as a clay pigeon, even with the 
spring set light, will go twenty-five yards in the 
first second, the kid was trying to hit 'em in less 
than one second — why, the veteran trap shots take 
four-fifths seconds for their aim, and here he was 
trying to equal them ! All this I cussed into him 
— he never had a more forceful teacher — but the 
next two shots were also misses, all shot at too 
fast. Then I elevated the trap quite a bit, giving 
him more skyline as a background and more time 
to aim, and he smashed the first one. It was not a 
good smash, just a bird broken in half — probably 
two pellets hit it — but the Kid was pleased as 



FIRST LESSONS IN SHOOTING 63 

Punch and he got back a lot of confidence in him- 
self. 

^ « < That 's the talk ! ' > I encouraged. * < Take your 
time and find 'em before you pull trigger ! Be- 
member that these are rising birds, and be sure to 
cover them with the gun muzzle before you shoot. 
If you see the bird over the sights, when you pull 
trigger on rising birds you will surely undershoot 
and score a miss. Try a shell loaded with No. 
10's now." We had both ten and 7%'s chilled, as 
I was afraid that the spread of shot with a 28- 
gauge shooting the 7%'s would be too great to get 
many birds, and so brought along a lot of regu- 
lar quail shells for the 28, loaded with tens chilled. 
These tens cannot be depended upon to break a 
clay pigeon however, as we picked up quite a few 
later with one and two pellet holes in them that 
had been scored as "Lost" This time however 
the range of these high thrown birds was compara- 
tively short and the Boy pulverised the saucer in 
great shape and began to feel like Barnegat days 
again. Next we tried a shell loaded with 7% 's and 
he broke that pigeon also. 

I now felt that he had got his confidence well in 
hand and we started in on "quail" again. Kneel- 
ing beside the shooter you elevate the trap just 
enough to get a good sky line and spring it as he 



64 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

advances toward the fence. I started with easy- 
straightaways and he smashed them in one-two- 
three order, shooting with both eyes wide open 
and always carrying the gun below the elbow, as 
in actual field work. Let me caution you right 
here as an old time shooter, never to allow the boy 
with the trap to go in front of the boy with the 
gun under any pretext whatever. He must al- 
ways be behind the other, and this applies also to 
the temptation to shoot across the line of advance 
from a concealment in a thicket — never do it unless 
the boy with the trap is behind a rock or other im- 
pervious object. For a gun is always dangerous, 
and when it is cocked and the shooter looking for 
a target to spring suddenly before him, no one 
should be in front of him at any angle whatsoever. 
This as a rule will give rather short ranges for 
the hand trap, but the rule should be inexorable. 
When you want the bird to spring from the ground 
any distance in front of the shooter use a standard 
fixed trap, or else a shotproof pit or screen of 
some sort. 

Getting back to our lessons. The Boy got to be 
a bear on straightaway "quail" right ofY, so I 
started them at unknown angles, still keeping them 
low. We used both tens and 7%'s and there did 
not seem to be any particular difference, as he got 



FIRST LESSONS IN SHOOTING 65 

most of them just over the fence at about twenty- 
five yards from the gun muzzle. Taking them at 
unknown angles he averaged 65 per cent, hits, 
very fair for the first twenty-five shells. 

On the second twenty-five we continued the 
"quail" shots, sprinkling in a few high fliers, and 
it was pretty to see him shower these into frag- 
ments like a bursting bit of fireworks, for which 
stunt he got a handclap from a passing automobile. 
He missed nearly half of these, principally be- 
cause they were so unexpected that he made his 
old mistake of firing too soon. It is a good fault, 
however; far better than pottering over a bird 
until it is out of range, which is always a sure miss. 

There are three other kinds of birds which can 
be imitated with the hand trap besides the "quail" 
flying away from you. These are, crossing shots 
as in pass duck shooting thrown from behind a 
board sign or big tree, the trap boy being some 
twenty yards in front of the shooter and not less 
than eighteen yards to one side of his line of ad- 
vance ; straight head-on shots, thrown from behind 
a bank on whistle signal, as in incoming ducks ; and 
crossing high fliers, thrown from a rock ledge or 
high bank, overhead from the shooter's position. 
All the needful places for such shots can be found 
anywhere in a walk in the country, and generally 



66 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

in places inaccessible to the heavy standard fixed 
trap. And, to get the latter 's capacity to fire 
pigeons from the ground directly in front of the 
shooter at sixteen yards ' distance, as in trap shoot- 
ing, all that is needed is some sort of a pit or a 
rock embankment three feet high, behind which 
the trap boy squats, firing his clays upon the 
whistle signal. But before I tell you of our lessons 
in these steps in the art of wing shooting I must 
give you some of our tests with a cheaper but 
efficient hand trap known as the "Ping-pong 
trap, ' ' in effect a pair of fingers or holder for the 
clay pigeon bolted on the end of a hickory stick, 
the clays being thrown by hand, just the way you 
would sling a potato off a pointed stick. This 
trap costs but $1.50 and in a subsequent chapter we 
will give some pointers about it and some com- 
parisons with the spring style of hand trap. 



CHAPTEE II 

CHOOSING A GUN 

When a boy sets out to buy a shotgun he has 
two things, nowadays, to bear in mind. The wild 
game is by no means as abundant now as it was 
when his father learned how to shoot, and, as the 
new shotgun game of trapshooting has come into 
such universal favour, the gun must be adapted 
to both wing shooting and trapshooting if you are 
going to get the most sport out of it. Of course if 
you have lots of money and can own an arsenal, a 
light brush gun of small gauge, a special trap gun, 
and a heavy, long-ranger for wildfowl would be 
your choice, but, as most boys' pocketbooks are 
limited, it is best to put all your money into one 
first-class all-around gun ; one that will not handi- 
cap you at the traps, is not too heavy for brush 
shooting, and one that shoots a hard and close 
pattern enough to give a good account of itself in 
the duck blind. For it is a fact that many a farmer 
boy has won great trapshooting championships, 
gotten his limit of ducks every season, and made 

67 



68 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

good on quail and grouse, all with a trap-grade 
twelve-gauge costing around $30. 

The qualities to be looked for are, first a dense 
pattern in the left barrel, putting at least 70 per 
cent, of the pellets in a 30-inch circle at forty 
yards, the right somewhat more open, say 60 per 
cent, for brush work, and second, a straight-stock, 
from 2y 2 to 2 inch drop at the heel and 1*4 to 1% 
at the comb. While it is true that a good trap 
gun will always do well in the field, the reverse is 
not true, for many a field gun that does well enough 
wing shooting will hold the user to a limit of about 
18 out of 25 clay birds killed at the traps. The 
reason is generally that the gun is stocked too 
crookedly; following rifle stocks, where one has 
all kinds of time to aim, our makers have a ten- 
dency to put out guns with 3 to 3y 2 inch drop — 
just right for a rifle but impossible to shoot well 
with as a shotgun. We are a nation of riflemen, 
and we therefore demanded the rifle stock that 
we were accustomed to, and the gunmakers fur- 
nished it as lots of well-meaning but prejudiced 
sportsmen insisted upon having it. But the Eng- 
lish, who get much more bird shooting than we do, 
have learned better, for they always have a 
straight stock with no pistol grip (put on pri- 
marily because of that big drop) and our trap- 



CHOOSING A GUN 69 

shooters soon realised that the English were right 
about this thing, and now the wing shots are fol- 
lowing suit all over the country. I have been 
through the mill on this question personally, and 
also seen it work out on the other fellows too often 
to dispute it. I own a beautiful Sauer twelve- 
gauge, as fine a handmade gun as you ever saw, 
and I got along well enough with it (with the usual 
quantity of unaccountable misses) on ducks, quail 
and grouse; but at the traps I hung around 14 
to 18 out of 25 and could not better these scores no 
matter how well I pointed until I bought a Parker 
with straight stock, drop 2 1 / 4: inches. My very first 
score after that was 13 out of 15. One of the best 
shots in our club (the Asbury Park Gun Club) 
used to do no better than 8 to 12 out of 25 with 
his good old field piece until he had it straightened 
to 2 inch drop, and since then he has been in the 
twenty-or-better squad. 

In the field I have bagged six quail out of eight 
shots with this gun, and the same experience has 
been duplicated by every wing shot who has tried 
it. Of course there's a reason behind all this. 
With a straight stock your cheek becomes auto- 
matically the rear sight, and you see broad and 
clear, well above the gun barrel so that you just 
naturally point the gun instead of aiming it. 



70 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

With the crooked stock of 3 inch drop, the tendency 
to shut one eye and aim it like a rifle is irresistible, 
in fact it is hard to hit anything unless you do 
sight the gun. Not only is time lost and too much 
rigidity and pokiness thus acquired as a bad habit, 
but when you cheek the gun, it never comes twice 
to your shoulder alike and each time you have to 
use brain and eye to do a lot of adjusting. "With 
the straight stock you have only to point the 
muzzle ; the breech is taken care of by your cheek 
bone, you see the bird plainly over the barrel and 
can put your mind entirely upon swinging and 
judging lead and flight. 

As to the gun to select, you have two types to 
choose from — the double gun and the repeater. It 
takes a good man to work and aim a repeater fast 
enough to get in more than two good shots, while 
the third is more or less a gamble. On the whole 
the double gun nowadays is preferable for all- 
around work, because you have your two shots 
quick and the two barrels are bored to give two 
different patterns, a great advantage over the 
single barrel which is limited to one pattern. If 
this is close enough for trap grade work it will be 
so dense as to blow a bird all to pieces that is too 
near you, besides making near shots exceedingly 
difficult because the charge of shot is still so close 



CHOOSING A GUN 71 

together. A good field and trap double should 
have its left barrel guaranteed to put 70 per cent, 
of the pellets of a load inside a thirty-inch circle at 
40 yards, and its right barrel should be bored to 
give 60 per cent, pattern if you are going to use 
it for brush shooting for grouse, or 65 per cent, if 
your principal upland shooting will be for quail. 
With such a gun you use your left exclusively at 
the traps ; give 'em the right for jumping quail or 
grouse, or ducks hovering over the decoys; and 
reach out with that tight old left for your second 
shot at upland birds or ducks passing at long 
range or digging away from the decoys as fast as 
their wings can carry them. That "trap" left 
on my Parker once reached out and grabbed a 
quail which had gotten by two guns of my Southern 
entertainers and was dusting off through a little 
opening between two long-leaf southern pines. 
He thought he was through for the day but I took 
a long chance with the full choked left and tumbled 
him over at 70 paces — which shot they still talk 
about down North Carolina way! 

A good double by Parker, Ithaca, Smith, Le- 
f ever, Fox, etc., will stand you from $25 to $37.50, 
and, as they are kept in stock of drops from 2 
inches to 3% inches and stock lengths of 13% to 
14% inches, any bore specified, one can pretty 



72 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

nearly order a gun by mail. I would however go 
to considerable trouble and expense to get to some 
large city where a number of guns are kept in 
stock so as to try them out personally, for if a 
gun does not fit you exactly it's all off as far as 
crack scores are concerned, no matter how hard 
you practise. First, it should hang well and bal- 
ance nicely in your hands ; second, it should come 
to shoulder instantaneously and without requiring 
any adjustment whatever subsequently on your 
part. Shut your eyes and throw the gun to aim, 
pointing at some object which you had in mind 
when you closed your eyes. Now open them ; your 
right eye will be looking directly down the barrel 
and somewhat over it if the gun fits you. If your 
eye appears to be more than a quarter inch over 
the barrel it needs more drop ; if you seem to be 
below the breech or too far down, the stock is too 
crooked for you, try another with a straighter 
stock. In the matter of stock length the trap and 
field guns are irreconcilable. The trap length will 
be too long for quick work in the field, not less than 
14% inches, while, for boys, a field length of 14 
or even 13% is essential unless the heel is to catch 
in your armpit every time you lay the piece. A 
good way out of the dilemma is to get the length 
that just fits you for quick work afield and then 



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CHOOSING A GUN 73 

buy a rubber recoil pad, which is to be laced over 
the butt when trap shooting. Finally, weight; if 
you are a large youth and will make a sixf ooter of 
a man, you want an eight pound gun. If light 
built, slender and wiry, 7 to 7% will be much bet- 
ter. The same applies to barrel length: A big 
man will want a 32 inch barrel or else he will get 
the fault of overswinging. A light-weight could 
not swing such barrels with either speed or ac- 
curacy; for him the 30 or 28 inch, the latter for 
brush gun work particularly. If you can afford 
the additional charge for automatic ejectors by all 
means get them. You will bless the money you 
spent on them every time the ducks go crazy over 
your head and circle about like a lot of sheep while 
the ejectors give you instantly a clear gun into 
which to shove a new brace of shells. 

Among the trap grade repeaters, Winchester, 
Remington, Marlin and Stevens all put out fine 
guns, weighing from 7% to 8% pounds, all guaran- 
teed 70 per cent, pattern, all with matted top rib 
to avoid barrel reflection. The drop is fixed at 
about 2 inches at the heel and 1% inches at the 
comb, and the price runs around $33 net. One of 
these guns, the Winchester, won the Grand Ameri- 
can Handicap last year, shooting against hundreds 
of fine $200 Daily and Westly-Richards special 



74 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

trap guns. In general the Winchesters excel in 
lightness and all-around trap and field qualities; 
the Eemingtons are noted for their hard hitting, 
dense patterns; and the Marlin and Stevens for 
smooth and fast action. Like the double gun, it is 
impossible to designate any one of them as "the 
best"; it is entirely a matter of individual prefer- 
ence, and, as all boys are born gun-catalogue stu- 
dents, they know every piece in the action of all 
these guns by heart and have already made their 
own individual selection. This article deals with 
general points which any and all of them must 
have to meet the requirements of a combined trap 
and field gun within the range of the boy's pocket- 
book. 

What of the boy who already owns a gun and 
has not yet gone into the trap shooting game f It 
may be a cheap Belgian, or one of the good old 
Bemington doubles unfortunately no longer manu- 
factured and now worth their weight in gold; it 
may be a hand-me-down Piper, Clabrough,- Greener 
or Purdey that father used to shoot; or it most 
likely will be just a gun, one of those $7 single- 
barreled boy's guns which were and still are the 
first choice of the 12-year Christmas. Can these 
be used for trap shooting! First go out and pat- 
tern it. Fire a charge of 7% chilled, factory 



CHOOSING A GUN 75 

loaded shell, at a piece of paper forty yards off, 
and then count the pellets in a thirty-inch circle 
drawn around the centre of the pattern, checking 
off each pellet with a lead pencil as you count it. 
One and one-eighth ounces of 7% chilled contain 
387 pellets, how many can you count in your circle ? 
If averaging 70 per cent, for ten shells the pattern 
will do for trap shooting and you next take the 
gun to your gunsmith's to be straightened. If he 
tells you it is hopeless, get a leather cheek pad 
from any of the big sporting goods stores and 
build up the comb to around 1% inches drop, so 
that when you cheek it your head will be properly 
laid over the barrel. Many a fine gun has been so 
equipped for trap work, its owner not caring to 
go to the expense and risk of having his fine stock 
worked over by some ordinary town gun and lock- 
smith. These men usually spoil everything they 
touch in fine guns, but there are men in the big 
cities, like Dannefelser of New York, Wundham- 
mer of Los Angeles, and Adolph of Genoa, N. Y., 
who can do fine work on fine guns and be entrusted 
with the most precious family heirloom in the gun 
line. 

Most of these cheap guns will be found to shoot 
too open for trap work, but will answer for prac- 
tice and learning the game of swinging and point- 



76 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

ing after having been adjusted to fit by adding 
recoil and cheek pads. After you have gone far 
enough to be convinced that there is the making 
of a trap shark in you, it is time to pull father's 
leg for the price of a fine gun such as I have out- 
lined above. I know one youth who won back the 
entire price of his gun at the very first big shoot 
he went into. 



CHAPTER III 



As told in our first chapter, the Boy's first 
lessons were with the hand spring trap, and when 
he got so that he conld do about 65 per cent, hits 
at all angles, the thrower standing beside him 
and releasing the trap without warning, I decided 
to try out the " ping-pong' ' trap, so called. This 
is a light affair, costing but $1.50, weighing but 
nine ounces and consisting of a wooden hickory 
handle eighteen inches long with the standard trap 
throwing fingers bolted on the end of it, making 
it 24 inches over all. It will thus pack readily in 
a standard brown canvas camp duffle bag, so I 
stowed one in our baggage, together with 20 blue 
rock clay pigeons, when I took the boys down to 
Barnegat for a camp over the Fourth. 

We made camp in a grove of pines the day be- 
fore the Fourth, five boys and two grown men, and 
after the crowd had turned out early next morning 
and fired off all their crackers and used up all the 
powder brought for a small brass cannon, we got 
down to the serious business of the morning of the 

77 



78 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

Fourth, which was trap shooting for the young- 
sters and revolver practice for the grown-ups. 
They all had a swim while we were looking over 
the ground (every boy had been in his bathing suit 
from the moment we hit the beach) and now they 
came shivering after us with their coat pockets full 
of shells and the precious 28-gauge ready for serv- 
ice. The first question was what could they do 
with the ping-pong trap f Could boys of from ten 
to thirteen make it go with any speed and accur- 
acy? And the answer was that they could — some 
of them — as soon as they got the hang of it. One 
left-handed boy nearly blew himself up trying to 
throw a pigeon while everybody scattered and dug 
out for the bushes to get out of his possible zone of 
fire. Then he noticed that the trap will only work 
right-handed, that is the movable release finger 
works only to the left so that it must be thrown 
right-handed. We had several .300 batters in the 
gang but they could do nothing with the trap until 
they realised that you do not swing it like a base- 
ball bat — you simply have that same sling to your 
arm that you would use in wielding a whip to get 
the finger to release properly. 

The Littlest Boy, who was but a shorty, couldn't 
throw a pigeon a little bit because he thought he 
was a golfer, and the golf swing is "nix" with the 



THE "PING-PONG" TRAP 79 

ping-pong trap. We were throwing the pigeons 
across a sandy point where they conld easily be 
retrieved whole after dropping, so we soon had 
two or three throwers in practice and getting ac- 
curate enough for the gun. The Boy stepped out 
with a shell in the 28 and I led off with the first 
pigeon— result a clean miss ! it was miles out of 
range before he found it and fired. Then one of 
the boys threw for him, with the same result. We 
then found that they were going much too fast, 
and the remedy was not to try to throw them easy, 
for then they would not leave the trap at all, but 
to loosen up the tension on the movable throwing 
finger by the small nut for that purpose. You 
see, this movable finger grips on the pigeon and 
holds it by a spiral spring on a small steel rod 
which connects with the fixed finger. By tighten- 
ing or loosening this spring, the trap will release 
the pigeon on a hard throw or an easy one depend- 
ing solely upon the tension of the spring. So we 
set it loose and made an easy toss. The pigeon 
wabbled out slowly and The Boy nabbed it before 
it got twenty yards. Too easy! Tighten up the 
spring, my lads ! Pretty soon we had the spring 
just about right and began to experiment with 
angles. He could smash anything that went away 
from him at almost any angle ; but I finally got his 



80 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

goat by stationing him behind a bush, while an- 
other boy threw the pigeon across him and he had 
to get it before it got out of sight behind a small 
pine which grew just beyond. He missed these 
regularly — I'll admit that it was a mighty hard 
shot — but just as soon as we began throwing them 
at him at a slant, Bang! Smash! he got time 
enough to pick them up over the sights. 

I believe that he was not leading those crossing 
birds enough, for I have had them thrown to me 
from a regular trap house, and believe me, those 
incoming and crossing birds are some hard! In 
the first place they are right on top of you before 
you find them with the gun muzzle, and then they 
are so close as to be very hard to hit because the 
pattern of shot has not had any time to spread. 
As they get closer every minute until they almost 
land on your head, I found, after missing a lot of 
them that the trick required was a fast swing 
holding about four feet ahead of the bird with the 
gun muzzle going like the mischief. Every hit 
would then blow the clays to fine dust, showing 
how close the pattern was. Five straight was the 
best run I ever made with them. 

As we had but twenty blue rocks, and, one after 
another, these got smashed or broken from falling 
we did not get enough of the crossing birds by The 



THE "PING-PONG" TRAP 81 

Boy to let him find the proper lead and I am con- 
vinced that at that stage of the game such shooting 
was too advanced for him. 

Summing up for the ping-pong trap ; as a light, 
cheap and easily carried pigeon-throwing tool it is 
all well enough, and if one cannot afford the hand 
spring trap, by all means invest in one of these. 
They are by no means as accurate in throwing in 
any desired direction, and in the hands of a novice 
are quite as apt to come out of the trap fingers and 
hit a bystander as to go out ahead where expected. 
One's general impulse is to duck for cover when 
some harum-scarum boy gets hold of this trap and 
proceeds to show the public how to pitch a pigeon 
— he is quite as likely to soak you as to throw it 
where he intended. All of which takes the 
shooter's mind off the real point of the game — to 
break that saucer with a shotgun. But a little 
practice will get a fellow so that he can put 'em 
over the plate with reasonable control, and, by 
speeding up by tightening the finger spring he can 
make them hard enough to require a fast gun. 

But in general I should arrange the development 
of a boy wing shot as follows: First, the hand 
spring trap, then the standard fixed spring trap 
set at six to sixteen yards in front of the shooter, 
and finally the ping-pong, walking afield with the 



82 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

shooter and springing pigeons on him at unex- 
pected intervals and unknown angles, such as 
shooting them through a glade in the forest, or an 
opening in the brush, just as the real bird makes 
his get-away. Such shooting is too hard for the 
beginner and it is a waste of pigeons and shells to 
attempt it before the intermediate steps have been 
mastered. Beally, the next thing after the hand 
spring trap is to go straight to the standard trap, 
starting with the twenty-eight-gauge at six yards 
if the boy is around ten to twelve years. 

This was the next step that I took with The Boy 
in this story, and as I realised that he would soon 
reach the limit of the twenty-eight and not come 
back to it until he might some day become a wonder 
gun pointer I decided to try him out with the 20- 
gauge. What I mean by the above is that, at a 
distance of around ten yards, the limit of the 
twenty-eight for ordinary shooting ability is 
reached, though a crack shot can take the 28 and 
stand at sixteen yards from the trap and still get 
a big per cent, of them. This is because he finds 
his birds so quickly that they are broken inside of 
thirty yards from him, while a slow man would not 
find them inside of forty yards when they would 
be out of range for the 28. But an ordinarily fast 
man is not handicapped at sixteen yards with the 



THE "PING-PONG" TRAP 83 

20-gauge, and a boy will do better with it than with 
a larger gun because he can swing it quicker. A 
friend of mine breaks 24 out of 25 with his 20- 
gauge at the standard sixteen-yard distance and 
he is no crack with the 12-gauge either. So, for a 
boy, the 20 is the next logical step. 

The Boy in this story is a husky individual for 
his age of 10% years, taller and bigger boned than 
the boys of 11, 12, and 13 who camped with him. 
He stands 4 feet 7% inches and weighs over 70 
pounds, and so, although the 28 would undoubt- 
edly be the best field gun for him, because of the 
quickness with which he can swing it, the 20 would 
have to be his gun for standard shooting at the 
traps. 

The two guns compare as follows in weights and 
dimensions, both single shot, full choked weapons : 
28-guage, weight 5% pounds, stock length 13 
inches, barrel length 26 inches, total 3 feet 4 inches, 
powder load 2 drams, shot load % ounces. For 
the 20-gauge, weight 5% pounds, stock length 13% 
inches, barrel length 30 inches, total length 3 feet 
9 inches, powder load 2% drams, shot load % 
ounces. There you have the whole story. The 
kick of the larger gun will be about the same as 
the smaller because its additional weight compen- 
sates for the heavier charge, and the 20 will swing 



84 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

much slower because of its longer barrel. But, as 
the gun is already at shoulder in the standard 
trap shooting holding the long barrel is no 
handicap, as witness the 32 inch and 36 inch bar- 
rels used by professional trapshooters who would 
simply have to use a 30 inch barrel for a brush gun 
where speed in pointing is essential. 

In our next we will have the story of how The 
Kid finished with the 28 and graduated into the 
20 for standard trap shooting, after which he was 
ready to take his place in a regular squad. 



CHAPTER IV 

PKACTICE WITH THE STANDARD TRAP 

In two chapters of this series we experimented 
with the hand spring trap and the ping-pong trap 
for throwing clay pigeons in taking the first steps 
in learning the art of wing shooting. Both of 
these can be made easy enough for the beginner, 
and yet at the same time too hard for the expert. 
By that I mean, that if the pigeon is thrown by 
either of these traps with easy spring and directly 
from the side of the boy shooting he will find it 
easy enough to break enough of the fleeting clays 
to encourage him to practise as long as there are 
shells to shoot. But if you attempt to go direct 
from this sort of practice to all sorts of surprise 
stunts as well as crossing and incoming birds the 
per cent, of hits at once drops so low as to utterly 
discourage the beginner. An intermediate step 
is necessary, something in the line of the standard 
trapshooting outfit with the trap in front of the 
shooter. This cannot be had with the hand trap 
or ping-pong without considerable danger unless 

85 



86 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

a pit is dug or a board screen put up in front of 
the shooter. Of course if you spend your good 
money on a hand spring trap the thing to do is to 
put up a board screen or dig your pit, so as to 
have the advantage of both standard trap practice 
and field practice with the same trap. It is much 
quicker than the standard "expert" stationary 
trap used in the open field, for the latter you 
have to walk forward to reload every time, whereas 
a boy seated behind the screen with a pile of blue- 
rocks and a hand spring trap can load it and fire 
it almost as fast as you can reload your gun, aim, 
and call" Pull !" 

However, as I happened to have a standard sta- 
tionary trap I put this on a cart and took it out to 
the field for our first experiments with the twenty- 
eight in standard trap shooting. This trap is se- 
cured to a box by its screws and the box has two 
stout stakes driven into the ground behind it to 
take the kick of the trap. If you do not provide 
such a brace the trap will kick backwards and 
waste most of its energy that way, with the result 
that the pigeon will make only a feeble flight of 
a few yards. Having staked it out, I laid out 
a set of marks beginning at six yards from the 
trap, then ten yards, thirteen and sixteen yards, 
our idea being to find just how far back from 



THE STANDARD TRAP 87 

the trap you could get with the twenty-eight- 
gauge, and still hit 'em with any reasonable fre- 
quency. The shells used were loaded with 14 
grains of dense smokeless powder, equivalent to 2 
drams of bulk powder, and the shot load was % 
ounces of No. 10 's chilled. The Boy took his sta- 
tion at the 6-yard mark, aimed the piece over the 
trap and called" Pull !" 

A straight-away — "Dead! Nothing to it!" 
The next shot was an easy right quarter. * ' Pull ! ' ' 
— "Dead! — Well centred !" The next a straight- 
away again. "Lost! Shot too high, son.' ' The 
next a hard right quarter — "Lost! — You didn't 
lead that fellow enough. Try again. ' ' Another in 
the same spot : ' ' Dead ! ' ' Back to a straight-away 
again for his sixth shot, "Pull!"— -"Dead! Say, 
Kid, you 're a shark ! ' ' 

Now I gave him one of my old discouragers, a 
mean left quarter. ' ' Pull ! ' ' — ' ' Lost ! — Shot 'way 
behind him. ' ' We eased up the angle still keeping 
it left quarter. "Lost! — I guess those left quar- 
ters are too hard for you yet." Back to straight- 
away, "Pull!" — "Lost! We've got your goat 
now, Kid — brace up ! " Another straight-away — 
"Dead! — All to smash — now you're getting mad 
— soak it to 'em!" Another straight-away, 
"Dead! What? — again! We can't lose you!" 



88 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

Now a right quarter, "Pull!" "Dead! Busted 
right in two — Humph, I guess we'll have to move 
you to the ten yard mark. * ' 

The above is no fancy dream but comes right off 
the score sheet, which is before me as I write. 
Adding up we get out of twelve shots, seven hits 
or nearly sixty per cent, which is encouraging 
enough for the beginner and better than most men 
do with the twelve-gauge for quite some time after 
beginning practice at the standard range of six- 
teen yards, all angles. Analysing, he got five out 
of seven straight-aways, two out of three right 
quarters, and missed both left quarters. That 
tells quite a story in itself, for trap shooting is 
like baseball and lacrosse and football — not to be 
learned in a day. I could see at least fifty shells 
to be expended, one after another, on getting the 
fast left hand swing required to hit those left quar- 
ters with any regularity, and a straight box of 
shells put in on the right quarters, both at six 
yards before going any further. And this would 
only be so much practice ; it would tone him up a 
bit, but real solid improvement, the form that hits 
'em every time, would not come until many boxes 
of shells had been put in on those birds. The 
straightaways would take care of themselves ; they 
only bother the slow shooter, and The Kid was 




BREAKING THEM 

rocks. PraCtiCe With the P in S-Pong trap. Note bag for carrying bltu 



THE STANDARD TRAP 89 

quick — inclined to snap, in fact, and this can only 
be done with certainty by the veteran crack shot. 

But this afternoon's shooting was to be devoted 
to finding the limit for the 28-gauge, and starting 
in with the 20 at this limit, so we tried ^.ve shells 
at the ten yard mark : ' * Eeady, Kid f ' ' 

1 < Pull ! ' '-— " Dead !— Nice quick shot. ' ' An- 
other straightaway; "Lost!" — "Guess you over- 
shot, as you were a bit slow and the bird was drop- 
ping when you fired." Another — "Lost! Too 
quick, over anxious — let's try a right quarter." 
i < p u ii v »_ << Dead ! Busted to bits ! " A quarter- 
ing bird sometimes has the same effect upon a 
boy's nervous make-up as doubles have upon a 
man. It is human nature to act quick and sharp 
when anything is visibly trying to run away, and if 
a man gets slow in his time at the traps just give 
him a few doubles and he will shoot like a fiend in 
trying to get both of them. In the same way a 
quartering bird scooting across your field of vision 
awakens all the shooting nerves into instant action. 
The next bird was an easy right quarter and he 
dusted it so we scored it as "Lost," for no visible 
chip fell out and that is the rule in trap shooting. 
The bird wabbled as it fell and had a stab from a 
single ten pellet in it when picked up. 

Moving to the thirteen yard mark The Boy be- 



90 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

gan to show signs of distress. He got just one out 
of five birds, and when I tried it myself I missed all 
three birds thrown to me. 

"Gee, Pop, but you're slower than running 
molasses with that gun!" commented the Kid on 
the parental misses. I certainly was slower than 
he, but I was holding accurately enough to have 
made all three of them kills with the 12-gauge. I 
think at 13 yards that we reached the limit of the 
28 until the Kid with his faster speed could be- 
come considerably more accurate and judgmatical 
in his holding, so we decided to change to the 20- 
gauge, as we were only three yards from the 
coveted sixteen which would let the boy have the 
ambition of his life — to go down to the gun club 
and shoot along side the men at the standard range, 
using his twenty-gauge. 

But the particular gun that we brought along 
soon showed that it did not fit him at all. The 
drop of three inches was far too great, the stock 
length was too much to get the butt well in on his 
chest, and every shot gave him a jolt on nose or 
lip. Presently his lip began to bleed and I could 
see that he was flinching from the punishment and 
missing them much more than he ought. Now a 
boy of his size ought to shoot a 20 almost as well 
as a 28, provided that it fitted him. I had at 



THE STANDARD TRAP 91 

home in the gun cabinet a beauty double 20, a $60 
grade Sauer, and it fitted him like a dream, but 
was otherwise entirely unsuitable, being much too 
fine a gun for boys' use and being a double gun, 
much too dangerous for field shooting. But as he 
would need to go to 20 gauge both for standard 
trap shooting at 16 yards and for duck shoot- 
ing in November, where the 28 would be too 
small, I decided to call off the shooting for the 
afternoon and take out the beauty twenty for prac- 
tice, with one barrel only, the next time we went at 
the traps. 



CHAPTER J t 

THE SWIFT AND SPITEFUL TWENTY GAUGB 

That the twenty-gauge shotgun can hold its own 
in competition with the standard twelve-gauge, the 
following table of scores will go to prove : 

Comparative Table of 12 and 20 Gauge Scores 
Cosmopolitan Gun Club, Manila, P. I. 

12 Gauge — 50 Birds 

Total Dead 

Thompson 44 

Squires, R. W. 42 

Vanderf ord 42 

Carson 39 

Martin 34 

Orense 34 

Beach 33 

Piatt 29 

Daniels 29 

Almeida 29 

O'Dell 28 

Bennediet 27 

Day 24 

Stevens 23 

Floyd 23 

Zembovitz 21 

Hartpence 21 

Vanderveer 5 

20 Gauge— 50 Birds 

Squires, CD 32 

Perske 28 

Hodges 27 

Sherman 27 

92 



THE TWENTY GAUGE 93 

Hileman 25 

Carter 24 

Armstrong 22 

Cisar 20 

These were shot for the Field and Stream trophy 
cup by the Cosmopolitan gun club of Manila, 
Philippine Islands. As there is necessarily a dif- 
ference in per cent, between the two classes, the 
twelves and twenties were kept separate, but it 
shows what ordinary fair shots can do with the 
twenty-gauge. Experts, of course, can do much 
better, many crack shots with the twelve doing 95 
to 97 per cent, with the twenty. As the little gun 
shoots harder in its effective range, a single pellet 
from it at thirty-five yards will break a pigeon, 
while one from a twelve at forty will only "dust" 
it. And, as the swift and spiteful twenty is an ex- 
ceedingly fast-handling gun, there is no reason 
why a boy, with his quick sight and high strung 
nervous organisation, should not make better 
scores with it than he could hope to make with the 
twelve. As an example of being over-gunned, I 
myself had recently a striking example. With a 
fast, light twelve I had just made a 21 ; taking for 
the next squad an excellent but heavy special trap 
gun to test for a friend I at once dropped to 12, 
although a heavy-built expert who took it in the 
next twenty-five did 20 with it the first time, 



94 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

With The Boy, the proposition of joining the 
Gun Club boiled down to the fact that if he could 
stand the kick of the twenty he could join the 
coveted men's squad at the Gun Club. He was al- 
ready fast with the twenty-eight, but its effective 
range was limited to thirteen yards from the trap, 
an impossible distance for it would necessitate his 
standing three yards in front of the shooting 
stand. But between ten and thirteen yards from 
the* trap his little 28 would " bust' ' them with great 
regularity, and so I now initiated a series of after- 
noons of practice with the twenty-eight at these 
ranges, giving him varying angles and a flock of 
main right and left quarters. Personally I could 
do nothing at all with the little gun, not having 
anywhere near speed enough, but the boy got to be 
as quick as a cat with them, and his snipe work 
along the Barnegat dunes this year, with his de- 
coys and making his own blinds, was good enough 
to please the most fastidious. Getting down to 
figures it averaged one to three birds better than 
the total number of shells fired, showing what 
good trap practice will do for one's field form. 

This fall there came up stronger than ever the 
question of graduating to the twenty-gauge. Since 
these lessons began he had grown seven months 
older and heavier, and was already sure of himself 




FIRST LESSONS IN WING SHOOTING 

S h 13 2 yel?s oM SinSle " barrel6d shotffun ls J ust ri Sht fo 



r a boy from 11 



THE TWENTY GAUGE 95 

with the twenty-eight. You will recall that the last 
experiment with the twenty was a few shots with 
an extremely " crooked' ' gun, one* that had 3^ 
inches drop at the butt and a high comb. While 
the shoulder kick was not appreciably heavier than 
with the twenty-eight, he was badly punished 
about the face and his lip began to bleed at the 
third shot. The shoulder kick, even if it bothered 
him could easily be remedied by lacing on one of 
the standard leather and rubber shoulder pads, 
for sale at any gun store, but there is no cure for a 
crooked gun. It must fit, not only for comfort 
but to be able to hit anything with it. Many a boy 
has struggled along and given himself up as a dub 
with the shotgun simply because his gun did not 
fit him in the first place. A drop at the heel of 
two to 2*4 inches is ample, and at the comb it 
should be from l 1 /^ to 1% inches, which you can 
easily test for yourself by putting the gun barrel 
down on the floor with the butt up and measuring 
from heel and comb to the top line of the barrels, 
which will be the floor line itself. 

In order to let him join the gun club, I could do 
two things : lend him my beauty Sauer 20, a $60 
high grade gun ; or buy him a single shot 20 of the 
same make as his 28, with automatic ejector short 
26 inch-barrel, 2 inch drop at the heel and 1% 



96 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

at the comb, 13^ inch length, full choke bored, 
weight 5% pounds. Such a gun would cost $6, and 
he could neglect it a bit without ruining it, while 
the least scrap of rust anywhere in the works of a 
high grade gun puts it off its fit and necessitates a 
trip for it to the gunsmith's. Another thing; my 
man's-sized twenty, while only 5% pounds weight, 
is stocked for field work for a man's frame, 2% 
inch drop and 14*4 inch length, and it therefore 
would be hard for him to shoot. However, as the 
right length is not as essential for trapshooting 
as it is in field work (because at the traps your gun 
is already at shoulder when you call "Pull!"), I 
decided to try him out on a few lessons with my 
fine twenty before going any further. 

We bought a box of shells and started in at ten 
yards. This time he did much better, partly be- 
cause of the extra practice with the 28, and partly 
because my 20 was a short brush gun with 26 inch 
barrels and he could swing it quite as fast as his 
own 28 which has the same length and weight. 
There was still some face punishment however, 
due to the big drop as it made him get his face 
right down behind the breech to aim properly. 
This I corrected by having him raise his face and 
compensate by taking the birds a little below, but 
it was only a makeshift, for your cheek bone is 



THE TWENTY GAUGE 97 

your real rear sight and the gun should be cheeked 
tight every time, leaving you nothing to worry 
about but finding that bird with the front sight. 

Soon he got to hitting them around sixty per 
cent, and I moved him back to the standard sixteen 
yard distance and began with straightaways and 
easy right and left quarters. He dropped down 
at once to thirty per cent., but even that is fair for 
the standard sixteen yard distance. How many 
men with a twelve gauge, or boys fifteen and over 
for that matter, do better than that on the start? 
The principal difference however was that The 
Boy did not stay at this per cent, long; all that 
previous practice with his 28 stood him in good 
stead now, and as soon as he got the hang of it 
and began to pick up speed his per cent. rose. 
Then I began to tighten up the spring on the trap 
and speed up the birds. I set a goal of fifty per 
cent, average with the twenty, with a new "Nitro 
special' ' of that gauge and an entrance to the Gun 
Club as reward. It does not take long to tell how 
we struggled through to that goal, but it actually 
took a good many afternoons to really do it, for 
there is a lot to " hitting the clays' ' and under no 
two weather conditions do they fly alike. I have 
seen a whole squad of cracks undershooting all 
their birds simply because a strong breeze was 



98 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

blowing directly towards the traps and the pigeons 
were soaring instead of dropping in their usual 
curve. I missed my first five straight on that oc- 
casion before I tumbled to the fact that the usual 
aim, seeing the bird a little over the sights, would 
not do, and on that particular day you had to cover 
them as you pulled trigger. 

All this The Boy had to pick up day by day 
while learning to point the twenty and swing it 
as fast and accurately as he used to his 28. On 
cold windy days he would get slow, and as we had 
both a standard fixed trap and a hand trap we 
got them both to work and he had to be quick with 
the first bird or lose them both. If he was missing 
quartering birds it was a sign of a falling off in 
gun swinging and I would have him go around to 
one side of the trap until the birds were flying 
nearly across his face. It is easy to put in these 
variations to correct especial faults with your own 
trap : it is impossible to do them at the club stand 
where the birds are sent away at all angles and 
there is no chance to hammer away at any par- 
ticular weak point until it is cured. It is not too 
much to say that, unless a boy has particular apti- 
tude for wing shooting, he will be a long time get- 
ting ahead at the club trap in a regular squad, and 



THE TWENTY GAUGE 99 

will spend enough on shells to pay for a trap be- 
fore he arrives at proficiency. Even to own a 
cheap ping-pong trap, firing it from a pit or be- 
hind a screen is much better than starting in 
blindly at the standard trap game. I was over a 
year in correcting a tendency to miss left quarter- 
ing birds, simply because I had no chance to ham- 
mer away at the fault until discovered. You get 
a left quarter about every fifth bird, sometimes 
two of them in a row, always more or less unex- 
pected, and as I was strongly right-handed I was 
always too slow and inaccurate in swinging on 
them, until I had a chance to correct it by banging 
away at fifty of them in a string. 

All this practice meant considerable cartridge 
expense, more than any boy's pocketbook can rea- 
sonably be expected to take care of. I considered 
it unfair to let that expense come on The Boy, as 
the accomplishment of wing shooting lasts a life- 
time, like swimming or skating, and ought to be 
paid for out of the parental exchequer just as are 
music lessons for the girl of the family. But as 
a boy's time is not excessively valuable there is 
one way in which he can help father out on the ex- 
pense a great deal, and that is by reloading his 
own shells. Any reasonably steady boy of twelve 



100 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

or over can be entrusted with the job, provided 
that some older person sees that there are no fires, 
cigarettes or matches in the room where the re- 
loading is being done. The twenty-gauge shell 
takes 2 drams of bulk smokeless, then a thick wad 
of soft felt, one thick one being better than two 
thinner ones of the same total thickness because 
often the latter capsize in the gun barrel letting 
the gases get by the wad when their propelling 
force upon the shot is lost. You can note this 
often at the traps whenever you see a wad spin- 
ning out on its edge and falling a considerable 
distance away unmutilated. After the powder 
wad, comes % of an ounce of No. 7% chilled shot, a 
thin cardboard shot wad, and the shell is crimped 
in the crimping machine. Cost of reloading about 
three-quarters of a cent each, whereas loaded 
shells cost around sixty cents a box of 25 in twenty 
gauge. Most modern paper shells are good for 
at least two reloadings. You can tell when a shell 
is getting too old by the black powder rim that 
begins to show on the paper above the brass base 
of the shell. We boys, when we were fourteen 
and fifteen years old and had graduated to twelve- 
gauge double shotguns, used to get all our shells, 
powder wads and shot wads for nothing by going 
around to the gun club grounds after each shoot 



THE TWENTY GAUGE 101 

and picking up the discarded cartridges at the 
stands, looking around in the grass some fifteen 
yards in front of the stand for powder wads, which 
were to be had in quantities and in good condi- 
tion, and a little farther on we found the shot wads. 
Our only expense for ammunition was then prim- 
ers, powder and shot. With primers at 35 cents a 
box of 250, powder at 65 cents a pound can, and 
shot at eight cents a pound, we could always find 
ourselves in ammunition enough for field shoot- 
ing, though never enough for trap shooting unless 
it was with the home trap. A reloading set costs 
about a dollar and should comprise a crimper, cap- 
per, decapper and rammer, powder and shot meas- 
ure and funnel. A reloading bee where two or 
three fellows get together of an evening after a 
good day's shoot is always great fun; there is no 
better way to put in the time, for a bunch of good 
fellows who love shooting and guns. 

By the time The Boy showed a fair fifty per cent, 
general average on those occasions when he took 
an examination so to speak with the twenty after 
steady practice with the twenty-eight, I felt bold 
enough to present him at the gun club and ask the 
men to let him join a squad next to me. Mean- 
while the quail season had come on and there was 
a good deal of upland and brush shooting for him 



102 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

with the twenty-eight. What he learned about 
the ways of quail and how he got started at regu- 
lar trap practice at the gun club will be told in 
our next. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE FIBST DAY AT THE GUN CLUB 

At last the great day arrived, The Boy's first 
shoot at the Gun Club ! Our club has two Leggett 
traps, in trap houses set on piles out over the 
ocean, and the city board walk runs right behind 
the trap stand so that there is always a large and 
interested audience when shooting is going on. 
The Club has two hundred and fifty members, so 
that if there is much of a turnout both traps are 
in use, the south trap for experts shooting in runs 
of 25 birds, the north trap for beginners and prac- 
tice work, their shoots being usually of ten and 
fifteen birds. The Kid and I each had a box of 
twenty-five shells, and he had elected to start in 
with his favourite old 28-gauge, the gun that gets 
meat for him every time in shorebird shooting. 
This year at Barnegat he had turned in more birds 
than shells, because of several neat doubles made 
with the single gun. 

I have outlined the preliminary practice that 
he went through before venturing down to the 

103 



104 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

Club; it was mostly 28-gauge practice at six, ten 
and thirteen yards ; now he was to start in at six- 
teen yards from the trap, and those traps are 
speeded up far beyond the average, throwing the 
birds at least 28 yards a second, so that if he 
found his bird inside of four-fifths of a second and 
fired it would be 44 yards away from the gun muz- 
zle, a very long range for the 28-gauge. But as 
that was the gun he knew best, the Kid was bent 
on starting with it, hoping to make up in quickness 
what he would lose in range power, for my 20- 
gauge never fitted him very well, kicked him too 
much with the standard load, and he never hit as 
well with it at any time during our field practices 
as he did with his 28. But, to appreciate the 
handicap he had as compared with a boy of four- 
teen shooting a twelve-gauge, just remember that, 
the 28 takes % ounce of shot against l 1 /^ ounces 
for the twelve, only half as much; so that he 
would have to lead and hold twice as accurately. 

However, the men welcomed him cordially and 
looked over the tiny shotgun and its fire-cracker 
shells with keen interest. The Kid drew position 
No. 4 in a ten-bird squad and we went out to the 
stands before all the crowd. He did not notice 
the people much and " nerves" or stage fright was 
the least of his troubles. He slipped in a shell, 



FIRST DAY AT THE GUN CLUB 105 

with the gun still broken, and waited while No. 1 
fired. 

"Now, then, Kid, take it easy and close your 
gun when No. 2 fires ; now cock it and lay it care- 
fully over the centre of the trap house, for No. 3 
is firing and your turn is next — now!" 

"Pull!" rang out the clear, treble voice. The 
bird rose, and Pank! went the little 28 before it 
had hardly begun to soar. The Kid was certainly 
going fast after them with a vengeance. ' ' Lost ! ' ' 
wailed the scorer. 

"Too fast, boy; you're almost snapping them in 
your anxiety to be quick. ' ' But there was no hold- 
ing back the Kid ; he kept worrying about that 44 
yards and wanted to get them if possible inside 35 
yards anyhow, so his next turn was a snap almost 
as fast as the other and a lost bird also. We 
moved to No. 5 position, for in ten-bird shoots two 
birds are fired at at each of the five positions. 

"Now, kid, this is going to be a mean place; if 
you get a right quarter you'll have to lead him a 
mile — and for heaven 's sake, take your time ! ' ' He 
got the mean ones all right ; one right quarter and 
one straight away; which at this position is very 
hard as you have to lead it somewhat, too. 
Missed them both. 

"Now it is time to move to No. 1 position," I 



106 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

admonished ; * ' carry your gun empty and open, so 
that every one can see that it is empty, holding it 
vertically in front of you, muzzle up. Hurry, now, 
with your shell and close your gun for your turn 
is coming immediately, ' ' I added, as we got to No. 
1 at the left end of the line. Now the Kid slowed 
down a whole lot ; too poky at first, for he missed 
both birds at No. 1, but when he got to No. 2 and 
the shooting got easier (for the birds from there 
do not get away at such terrible angles) he broke 
his first one. Clean in two, and my ! what an en- 
couragement! The next he struck with a single 
pellet and wabbled it, so it could not be scored, but 
the Kid was just as pleased for now he was "get- 
ting them. ,, At No. 3 he was in the central and 
easiest position; dusted one and lost the other, a 
hard right quarter, which bird always bothers him, 
the Kid being left handed. This ended the first 
shoot, and the scorer had only one tally to show, 
but we checked it up as three hits in our minds, for 
even a dusted target ought to score with such a 
small gun as a 28. I shot in the next squad with 
a 20-gauge double brush gun and only got two out 
of ten with it although I can usually account for 
7 or 8 out of ten with the twelve-gauge. Holding 
high and holding low I spent a number of shots in 
finding out just where the gun placed its target 



FIRST DAY AT THE GUN CLUB 107 

before I was sure that you had to hold it a good 
deal lower than with a standard trap gun to get 
them. Even easy straightaways that were "sure 
dead" with the twelve, soared away unharmed 
principally, I believe, because I shot too deliber- 
ately. One of our fast men took the same gun 
later and did six out of ten with it. 

The Kid next entered a fifteen-bird squad draw- 
ing No. 1 position. I stood back of him coaching 
as before. Before we went out to the stand I gave 
him a * ' once-over ' ' on trap etiquette : ' ' Put those 
fifteen shells in your right pocket, son, so that you 
will not have to fumble and search for any of 
them ; never delay the squad firing on any pretext 
whatever; put in your shell and leave the gun 
open just as soon as you have fired and ejected the 
empty; close it and cock it when the second man 
ahead of you has fired; lay your piece and hold 
over the centre of the trap house while the man 
next you is firing; take a last look over the gun 
and see that it is held straight, not tilted to one 
side, that it is cheeked correctly so that your 
breech and front sight are in central alignment, 
open both eyes, look at the trap house and call 
'Pull!'" 

This time, after missing all three of the birds at 
No. 1, the Kid got right after them and shot in 



108 SHOOTING TOR BOYS 

excellent time, smashing two and dusting one at 
No. 2 ; smashing another at No. 3 and dusting the 
other two ; getting a smashing right-quarter and 
breaking up a straightaway at No. 4 and missing 
all three at No. 5. The scorer then had a tally of 
four broken birds to show at the end of the shoot, 
and mentally we made it seven out of fifteen, count- 
ing in the three dusted and wabbled birds as struck 
with at least one pellet. The Kid was much elated 
over his first go at the regular game, for many a 
man with the twelve-gauge does not show nearly as 
well his first time. And then a heavy hand was 
laid on his shoulder and a deep, kindly voice said, 
"Kid, you did first class with that little popgun; 
come down again and shoot some more — you'll 
make a trapshooter all right !" It was the Presi- 
dent of the club who had been shooting alongside 
of him in the fifteen-squad. 

And so the Kid walked home on air and clouds, 
cleaned his pet gun, fed the dogs and vowed that 
he'd get down every Saturday and have some more 
of that good sport — you bet ! 

But now the brown October days were filling the 
forests with scarlet and gold, the corn sheafs stood 
like regiments in the fields, and the game laws 
opened up on quail and rabbit. Setter and hound 
had been chafing at the delay ever since the Sep- 



FIRST DAY AT THE GUN CLUB 109 

tember frosts set in, and now they galloped out 
with us into the hunting fields. Quail keep to- 
gether in coveys of a dozen to twenty-five birds, 
and the places to look for them are in the corn 
fields, the brown pea weeds around the edges of 
old truck patches, and berry and briar patches 
where the seeds of overlooked berries have dried 
out and fallen to the ground to be scratched for 
by hungry quail. The Kid with his 28 and I with 
the twelve spent our Saturdays in long tramps into 
the back country, with Scout, the setter, quarter- 
ing the ground ahead while Pepper, the hound, 
worked up old rabbit trails in the thickets and 
woods nearby. 

Presently Scout comes to a point. His body 
stiffens and his spine trembles with eagerness. 
i i Now then, Kid, they 're right ahead ; you take this 
position right behind the dog, for at least one 
quail will fly directly away from him, giving you 
a dead easy straightaway shot V • 

We creep forward as though treading on eggs, 
guns just below shoulder at a ready. Suddenly, 
Brrrrrr! up jump a dozen swift, brown bullets, 
Pop! goes the 28 and Blam-Blam! roars the 
twelve. " Three down; steady, Scout. Mark! 
there they settle over by that weedy ditch. Fetch 
dead bird, Scout l" and the faithful setter noses 



110 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

out and brings us, mealy-mouthed, the three brown 
beauties. ' ' Nice clean kill, Kid, ' ' I comment. 

We walk over toward the ditch and again Scout 
points. 

"Ready, boy!" We edge forward, trailing the 
right foot on the ground, for if that foot is in mid- 
step when they rise, you lose the instant required 
to put it down again and take firing position, prob- 
ably losing the bird also. " Where are they, any- 
way?" For a creep of twenty feet raises nothing. 
Scout makes a short dash ahead and again stands 
rigid. "They're roading; come on, along the 
ditch!" We work up much faster, and this is too 
much for the scattered covey who rise like a thun- 
derbolt here and there and head for the woods. 
Bang-bang! Pank! "Missed that fellow clean, 
Kid, he caught you with that foot off your guard. 
Reload now, and we 11 follow them into that thicket 
over yon." 

"Pep's got a rabbit, father; hear him yip and 
bay." Pepper certainly was making the woods 
ring, and we ran over to the catbriers at the edge 
of the woods, for the rabbit would certainly cir- 
cle, and might run out into the field if he did not 
make for these briers. The chase worked around 
our way, punctuated with the yelps of the eager 



FIRST DAY AT THE GUN CLUB 111 

hound. ' ' There he goes ! Kun up that log road, 
Kid, and you'll get a shot; aim high; lead him a 
mile and take him at the top of his jump." 

Babbit is not easy to hit, but one pellet of tens 
will settle him if you land it. Often you must fire 
from the hip, and never is there a chance for a de- 
cent aim, lead what you can see about a yard. 

Borp ! rang out the 28 under the wood aisles, and 
"I got him! Le'go, Pep; you noun' dawg! Git 
away f 'm here 1" shrilled a treble voice. The Kid 
was full of excitement and talking a triumphant 
string of adjectives as he came down the road, 
dangling a long furry cottontail, while Pep jumped 
all around him. We then started across the fields 
for the thicket where we marked down the quail, 
and in an old turnip patch Pep struck another rab- 
bit trail, gave tongue and was off. 

"Let him go; we'll attend to birds for the pres- 
ent; hang that rabbit to your belt, Kid." Scout 
had no use for rabbits; he knew that to follow 
them meant a licking so he was broken, "rabbit- 
proof" as the dog men say. He galloped across 
and across the field ahead of us and presently 
made game. 

1 ' A single, by George ! Easy, now, he 's frozen. ' ' 
Scout lay down with his head canted rigidly 



112 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

upon a tuft of weed. "Hiding in there, by 
jingo! Now give him time, Kid, or you'll blow 
him all to pieces.' ' We walked forward until al- 
most on top of the hiding quail. I made a kick 
and Brrrrr ! away he went low down and straight 
as an arrow. The Kid let him get twenty yards 
away and then bowled him over as if struck in 
the head with a brick. Scout had him to bag in one 
jump. 

"Lone bird, I reckon; here we come to the 
thicket." 

But the covey had either flown farther or had 
run through the leaves and got into the swamp, 
for Scout failed to make any game. We kept on, 
up into a little, moist leaf-strewn ravine and here 
the dog came to a shivering point. "Gee! he's 
excited this time, Pop. What is it?" 

"Don't know; easy ahead, now." Suddenly 
Weet-weet-weet-weet — ! ! a swift flash of wings up 
through the bare branches, and both guns spoke. 
Two birds fell; "Woodcock! by all that's holy! 
Kid, you've killed your first woodcock! — shake!" 
We picked them up and called it a day. Five 
quail, two woodcock, and a rabbit; enough for a 
game supper, and outside of big-game hunting and 
wildfowling, there is no better sport. Which is 
only another way of saying that, no matter what 



FIRST DAY AT THE GUN CLUB 113 

you hunt in those grand months of the year when 
the Hunter 's Moon is shining you will have a thrill 
and a zest in following dog and gun that no man- 
made game can begin to approximate. 



CHAPTER VII 

A DAY IN" THE UPLANDS 

The Boy did not often go down to the gun club 
with his 28 in the fall months, in fact the gun club 
itself put up its shutters temporarily, for the 
royal month of November was in full swing and 
every member was off shooting. One or two tries 
at ten and fifteen birds at the standard trap ranges 
with the 28-gauge shooting tens chilled, resulted in 
too many "dusted" birds to be encouraging. We 
could see the clay saucers jump and hop as the 
shot struck them, but only a few broke so as to 
enable the scorers to mark them up as "Dead!" 
And the brown uplands, the brown marshes with 
their wastes of gray waters were calling, calling 
for The Boy to come out afield and try the 28 on 
rabbits and ducks. 

We decided to let the traps alone for the present 
and come back when the tournament season should 
begin again with the big Thanksgiving shoot. 
One bright clear Saturday, early in November, 
the Boy and I rose before dawn, piled into an auto 

114 



A DAY IN THE UPLANDS 115 

already crammed with sportsmen and dogs, and 
the whole works buzzed off into the back country 
with the freezing wind whistling about our ears. 
An old barn near a great rabbit and pheasant 
swamp was our objective, a "swamp" in that 
country meaning a dense thicket of brush and tim- 
ber intersected with numerous streams. Three 
men, the Boy, three beagle hounds, one fox hound 
and three "pocket" hounds tumbled out of that 
automobile and we all jointed up our shotguns. 
It was great country to hunt in ; tall brown weeds 
choked the fields and tangles of thicket jutted out 
here and there wherever a little rill worked out of 
the fields into the woods. We formed in a long 
line, with the dogs snuffing and quartering the 
ground in advance. The first shot roared out 
within ten minutes of the time when we entered 
the first thicket. It was Charlie, on our extreme 
left, who had put up a fine cock pheasant in a dense 
catbrier thicket. A beautiful shot, snapped from 
the hip ; and as handsome a bird as you ever laid 
eyes on. These are State-planted English pheas- 
ants, a lot being liberated every year so that there 
are a few of them to be found in almost every big 
tangle of brush of four or five square miles in area. 
Suddenly, over in our centre, one of the "pocket" 
hounds let out a yip, and immediately Brownie 



116 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

and Spot, the beagles, joined in, and then came 
Pepper, the foxhound's deep bay. Then — Spank! 
went the twenty-eight from the depths of the 
thicket, and the Boy's clear yell, "Missed him — 
by gorry ! He's a big fellow and going like sin!" 

"Bun, everybody! — out for positions on the 
road! You come out here, Kid, and stand where 
you can command the edges of this field, for he 
will surely circle back and you'll get a shot." 

The rest ran out on the main road and strung 
out a hundred yards apart, while I tore up a back- 
woods road on the chance that the chase would 
head that way. Things were lively enough in the 
thicket; the continuous yips of the small hounds, 
the screaming yelps of the beagles, and the con- 
stant baying of Pep told that the rabbit was in 
sight ahead of them. Hither and yon it circled 
and doubled. Presently there was a faint rustle 
in the brush near my position and a large rabbit 
hopped out, saw me, put on a raft of power and 
beat it into the brush. But the old Parker barked 
out and rolled him over and over — the deadest rab- 
bit since Lazarus ' time ! Along came the hounds 
in full cry, following every double and sidestep un- 
til they ran right over the spot where I had picked 
the rabbit up, proving that he was the one that 
had made all the trouble. 




PEPPER AND THE KID STARTING EOR A RABP.IT HUNT 

Note: Pepper's tail is not docked; he has only wagged it out of the 

picture. 




A SETTER, POTNTI 



A DAY IN THE UPLANDS 117 

Into the swamp again, everybody; twisting and 
turning and dodging briers and crawling under 
and through alders, always with the gun at ready 
for any moment a sudden roar of wings would de- 
note a flushed grouse or pheasant, or a bobbing of 
white tail would tell of Molly Cottontail on the 
move. Then, off somewhere in the bushes, a lit- 
tle pocket hound — Beauty it was — squeaked, and 
then her mates, Punch and Judy, took it up. Pep 
had been snuffing among the leaves near me ; now 
he whined approval and was off on the jump for 
the spot. Then a ripping, tearing bray told that 
Spotty had taken the trail and another rabbit had 
been started for the stewpot. This time the Boy 
out in the field was the lucky man. Bunny came 
tearing out, looking neither to right nor left, with 
the eager dogs not fifty yards behind him, and the 
Boy put his sights well over him and pulled trig- 
ger, bowling him over neatly. 

We now crossed over into a great ravine, full of 
tall timber and not much clogged with underbrush. 
The brown, fragrant, autumn leaves crackled 
crisply under foot, the keen Northwest wind sang 
overhead and it was good to be alive and afield with 
dog and gun! The hounds threaded their way 
through the forest, snuffling tracks in the leaves. 
We worked up a big ridge and down into a ravine 



118 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

grown up with catbrier at its head. "Now, look 
out, kid, this is a likely place and we ought to start 
something, ' ' I admonished. ' ' Cock your gun, but 
don't forget to uncock it again when we get into 
less likely country.' ' 

1 1 There he goes ! ' ' yelled Frank, and Bang ! went 
his Winchester pump. ' i Got him ! Look out, you 
fellows, there 's another coming down your way ! ' ' 
The dogs all went wild at the gun report and 
rushed to the scene of the kill, and Frank soon had 
them on the fresh scent of the other cottontail. 
Down they all tore through the timber, but that 
old fellow was too foxy and made good his escape 
by a side jump and a double. Then, from out the 
field at the head of the ravine, came the unmistak- 
able pop! of the 28-gauge. "What did you get, 
Bad?" I yelled. 

' ' Quail ! ' ' chirped the treble voice. ' i Come out 
here quick, there's a bevy of them!" We all 
climbed out of the ravine. "Oh, pop, he was a 
dandy shot!" crowed the Kid, holding up the 
quail. ' ' Got up out of the grass by that old grape 
vine and I knocked him just as easy!" 

"Where did you mark the rest down, son — he's 
a nice one, fat and full feathered — " 

1 ' They lit over in that field beyond those chicken 
sheds, Father." 



A DAY IN THE UPLANDS 119 

"Well, let's get them up before the hounds get 
back and flush them ; we sure ought to have brought 
Scout, the setter." 

We formed in a line beyond the abandoned 
chicken sheds and swept up the field. Then, over 
on the right near the woods. Brrrrr ! ! up got the 
covey and Blam-blam-bluie-bluie ! ensued. The 
Boy and Charlie on the right did the honors with 
a single and a double ; the rest of us were too far 
away to do anything but mark down. I spied two, 
making off through some green tops of small pitch 
pines, and was off after them with gun at a ready. 
The going was uphill, with the view finer and finer 
at every step, but just then I could spare no eyes 
for anything but quail, for without a dog they get 
up so unexpectedly as to make a hit in the brush 
a hard matter. The first one waited until I was 
within four feet of him and then jumped and 
whirled right past me downhill, so that I had to 
turn completely around to get a shot, as, when cir^ 
cling so near me, to shoot would either be to miss 
entirely or to blow him to mincemeat. By the time 
the gun was following him he had gotten through 
the pine tops again and I scored a miss anyhow. 
I met the Boy coming up with his second quail. 
' ' He went right down into that valley in the woods, 
pop, ' ' said he. ' ' Let 's go get him. ' ' 



120 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

"This is going to be some hard stuff, Kid, and 
I want you to take a try at it. Any one who can 
get his quail in thick brush is some shot, as the lit- 
tle rascals are quicker than a grouse to put a tree 
between you and them. You take the lead and try 
your hand. ' ' 

We worked our way down into the leaf-strewn 
valley. Oh, for Scout and his infallible nose! 
"Careful, now; he pitched down about here and 
will not move far at first. Easy, now ; keep your 
right foot on the ground and trail it, for he's likely 
to jump any minute — there he goes!" The Kid 
flashed his twenty-eight to shoulder but the quail 
had dodged as quickly, and he scored a miss, while 
I got no chance at all at him until he was sixty 
yards off and going like the wind through the tree 
trunks. ' ' Better fire and miss than not fire at all, ' ' 
as the old saying is, so I reached out for him with 
the full-choked left, but did not draw a feather. 

"Well; he's earned his liberty, Kid; hear the 
row the dogs are making over there to the north. 
I'll bet that catbrier swamp is plumb full of rab- 
bits!" 

We hastened over through the woods, the yells 
and squeals becoming more complex every minute. 
"Pop, they've got a dozen in there!" exulted the 
Boy, changing his load from tens to 7%'s as he 



A DAY IN THE UPLANDS 121 

ran. We ripped through a tangle of briers as 
high as your head and — started a rabbit on our 
own hook ! The Kid got him, firing from the hip 
as he bobbed underneath the briers. But all the 
dogs were barking stationary, and when we got 
there Frank and Charlie were forming a mining 
company limited, with a crooked pole, all three 
"pocket" hounds were completely out of sight in 
the earth their barks coming up like muffled throbs 
from below ground. Brownie, Pepper and Spotty 
were digging like mad, and a rank musky odour 
came out of the hole. The lair was under the roots 
of a huge overturned stump, a monarch of the for- 
est that had once dominated this gully and whose 
removal had caused the growth of catbrier brush 
and the thicket of saplings. 

11 'Coon or 'possum — or I'm a Jew!" I pro- 
nounced, sniffing the hole. "We'll have to smoke 
him out. ' ' If 'coon, the dogs had evidently caught 
this fellow out late away from his tree, for they 
usually leave the swamps for the forest fastnesses 
very early in the morning. If 'possum, it was 
doubtless his regular lair. The first thing to do 
was to get those pocket hounds out and leashed up. 
Built like a miniature beagle, the peculiar excel- 
lence of these little dogs is their wonderful nose, 
their ability to get through brush and briers that 



122 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

no beagle or foxhound would care to tackle, except 
on extremely hot scent, and their ability to work 
into almost any ground hole. Beauty, Punch and 
Judy were all up in the bowels of the earth some- 
where, burrowing and barking like mad, and to 
get them out seemed hopeless. However, each 
was negotiated* at arm's length by his own tail, 
and soon we had a smudge going, while a ring of 
dogs, men and the Boy awaited results. It did not 
take long; suddenly out of the hole burst a grey 
furry streak, followed a jump or so behind by all 
the frantic hounds. Then he turned and fought 
them, screaming and biting savagely, his high, 
shrill squall rising above the babel of hound voices. 
But the dogs killed him in less than fifteen sec- 
onds, old Pep getting a throat-hold and shaking 
the life out of him ; a smallish raccoon of about 5 
pounds weight, but constituting the best trophy of 
the day, so far, besides the cock pheasant. We 
foresaw a roast 'coon supper for the crowd, and 
the pelt was voted to make a hanger in the Boy's 
den. 

After this we went back to the barn for lunch, 
and the fry-pan, bacon, hot coffee in thermos bot- 
tles, cakes, sandwiches and apples made a welcome 
feed. "Now, who's my friend when lunch time 
comes?" chirped Charlie the Quick, when the 



A DAY IN THE UPLANDS 123 

hounds crowded around him for tidbits and scraps. 
It is not well to feed them but a tiny bit until 
the day's hunt is over, for each dog will promptly 
curl up and go to sleep until he has digested the 
meal. 

We next piled into the auto and ran for another 
famous swamp, where there were pheasants and 
rabbits and a few grouse known to be. It lay two 
miles inland from where we were, and was in the 
shape of a triangle a mile on edge, with a wood 
road, a sand barren and a cabbage and brier patch 
on the three sides. Here we put in the dogs. The 
dense huckleberry brush made the going under the 
pines and oaks nearly impossible, but if you 
fought your way through with ready gun you 
might be rewarded with a ruffed grouse. Another 
very good place for them was the wood road men- 
tioned before ; all grouse love the old lumber roads 
because they find here spots to dust in and be- 
cause there is there a sparse growth of forest 
grass, occasionally some oats sprung up from an- 
cient droppings of oat feed by the lumber horses. 
The Boy and I decided to try the old road, leaving 
Charlie and Frank to guard the cabbage patch and 
sand hills. The dogs hadn't started a rabbit yet, 
nor had any thunder of wings told of their flush- 
ing a grouse. We followed the old road under the 



124 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

pines. The last wheel-marks made here were bur- 
ied deep in pine needles and dead oak leaves, while 
scanty growths of huckleberries had already 
gained a foothold, and among these I peered sharp- 
eyed for the brown neck and dark ruff or collar of 
the grouse. 

" There's one, Kid! Just crossed the road — 
went into those bushes at the left!" 

" Where! where !" exclaimed the Boy breath- 
lessly. i ' I didn 't see a thing. ' ' 

"Have to have an eye like a hawk for game to 
get your share of it, these days," said I grimly. 
' ' Now start in by that bush and work up with your 
gun just below shoulder, for he'll jump like a 
flash." Suddenly with a roar ten times louder 
and more startling than that made by any quail, 
the grouse flushed, and instantly rang out the 
crack of the Kid's ready 28. I caught a glimpse 
of a large brown bird, sailing through the trees 
with fast-fluttering wings, and laughed. 

"Missed him — oh, I'm a dub!" wailed the Boy. 
"And he looked easy, too, the way he got up." 

"You hit him, all right ; I can tell by the way he 
flew — what did you have in!" 

"Eights or 7%'s, for rabbits, I'm not sure 
which. ' ' 

1 ' Those boys will fly with eights in them as long 



A DAY IN THE UPLANDS 125 

as they can move a wing. We'll look for him; I 
marked where he went down." 

We followed the course of the grouse when last 
seen, down into a choked and tangled huckleberry- 
swamp, both guns at full ready for either a fresh 
flush if not hit or an expiring flutter if already 
wounded. 'Across this we waded and fought, and 
thence into a dry pine slope where presently a 
quivering that attracted us in the leaves disclosed 
the Boy's first grouse. 

1 * The best prize of the day ! ' ' exclaimed the Kid, 
holding it up proudly. "Gee, pop! I'm going to 
mount him myself. Some trophy for the den, eh ! 
My first grouse!" 

Charlie and Frank each got a rabbit out of that 
swamp after a long afternoon's work by all the 
dogs, for it was almost impossible to be at the spot 
where Molly came out at just the right time to be 
ahead of the hounds, in trying to guard such a big 
front with only four of us. At no time did fortune 
favour the Boy and myself but the eager music of 
the dogs as they followed the screaming scent up 
and down and around the big triangle was fun to 
hear. But we were content, when about four 
o'clock the sun went down and we whirled back 
home in the calm of a November evening. And 
just such a hunt as I have described, the kind that 



126 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

we take, with variations, every Saturday during 
the hunting season, is entirely possible to any set 
of boys in almost any part of our country where 
the game is reasonably protected. 

But, as the whisper of " Ducks at Barnegat!" 
began to grow louder the later it got in November, 
we decided to go down there for a camp and a duck 
shoot after the next big northeast storm; and so 
the Boy went down to the traps to practise with 
7y 2 'a in his 28-gauge shells, for 6's would be the 
smallest shot permissible with ducks and he would 
have now mighty few pellets to rely on and must 
send them straight indeed. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 

"Mark south, papa!" 

Every one froze in the blind, for when the Kid 
called "Mark!" it always meant that his bright 
blue eyes had seen game coming. Eigidly we 
crouched in our circle of sage, not daring to move 
a muscle, looking cornerwise out through every 
vista available while thrills of anticipation raced 
through our nerves. Up, out of the south, they 
came, suddenly being visible in the vast greenness 
of the marsh, a shimmering of white underwings 
and a wheel of grey pinions as they circled the de- 
coys down-wind. The safeties clicked and I heard 
the hammer sear of the Kid's 28-gauge clink home 
as every bird cupped his wings and hovered over 
the stools. 

"Now!" gritted Walter through his teeth. 
Crack! spoke the little 28, and Blam-blam! Bluie- 
bluie-bluie! roared the double and the pump. 
Birds crumpled and fell right and left as the flock 
flashed into lightning action, bursting in every di- 
rection like a feathered bombshell. 

127 



128 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

"Down! Every one!" barked Walter, grab- 
bing the Kid's shoulder and forcing him to earth 
as he fumbled for the bone snipe whistle dangling 
at his neck. We crouched motionless while the 
shrill Dzree-u-ee! of the black-bellied plover call 
floated out over the marsh. But the flock would 
have none of us, and would not return for any 
snipe calls, however seductive. 

"Seven down!" called Walter, wading out to 
pick them up. ' ' Say, these are the queerest black- 
bellies I ever saw! One-year birds, maybe; I 
dunno." He brought in the bunch of large black 
and white plover, their wings dangling all awry, 
and tossed them on the tarpaulin floor-cloth of the 
blind. 

"Where's the hind toe?" I demanded, examin- 
ing the legs of one of them. "Black-bellied 
plover, nothin'! — these are young Golden Plover, 
man! Glory be! the first I've seen on these 
marshes in many a weary year!" 

Walter grunted incredulously. 

"In the first place, the herring-bone on their 
backs is too yellow for black-bellies, even first-year 
birds," I argued. "In the second place, where 
are your black feathers under the wings nearest 
the body? And, in the third place, the hind toe 
is wanting, and that settles it !" 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 129 

1 ' I believe you, my boy ! ' ' said Walter with ris- 
ing exultation in his voice. ' ' Who says the game 
is not coming back! This is only the third year 
of that no-sale-of-game law that you fellows put 
through, but I tell you I never saw such an in- 
crease in all kinds of snipe, duck, and geese in this 
bay as has come this year and last. Those are the 
first golden plover that I've seen in — let's see — 
well, sixteen years anyway. [ [ 

We three were out for a shore bird cruise — a 
week's end from Friday to Tuesday, in September 
— shooting snipe on the marshes, fishing the hole 
at Jones' Inlet for big tide-runner weakfish — the 
kind that run six to eight pounds — and tackling 
the surf at night for kingfish and blues. 

This morning we lay in the balmy sunlight with 
a comfortable black oilcloth spread under us on 
the marsh and nothing to do but talk and keep a 
bright lookout through the interstices of the blind 
for passing flocks over the rim of the far horizon, 
shimmering green and lovely in the mild heat of 
autumn. Every fifteen or twenty minutes the 
tense call, "Mark southeast!" would arrest all 
movement and send one's fingers sliding ever so 
gently along the tang of the shotgun to where the 
knurled ridge of the safety jutted up. Millions of 
peeps and sanderlings hovered about or played 



130 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

among our decoys unmolested, and now and then 
a flock of big birds would visit us ; one time three 
incoming willet, that flew high overhead, present- 
ing the hardest kind of a shot ; another time half 
a dozen summer yellowlegs, who wheeled in to our 
cheerful hu-Jiu-hu' '$ ; again, a couple of creakers, 
who flashed in unperceived until right over the 
blind, and then were handily picked out of the air 
by a left quartering double made by the writer, 
and causing him a four-inch expansion of chest 
measure ! 

But these golden plover were " something else 
again,' ' the finest eating and rarest of all plover in 
the East, and there seemed to be quite a few of 
them using here and there in the marsh. When 
you realise that that marsh is some twenty miles 
long and ten wide, it meant that our chances of 
being visited were so infrequent as to cause a 
bright lookout for the least sign of a fluttering 
wing on the horizon and a sharp ear for the faint- 
est suspicion of a snipe call floating over the 
marsh. 

The morning wore on with varying thrills and 
now and then a long sunny spell with nothing to do 
but loll in the blind and enjoy the salt tang of the 
southeast breeze blowing in from the open ocean. 
Finally Walter went out of the blind — fatal mis- 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 131 

take, for something always happens when you are 
not attending strictly to business — and in less than 
five minutes a sudden "Hist! Mark southeast, 
papa! Look who's here!" in the Kid's clear 
treble, made us both bow flat to the earth, for this 
time a big flock of black-bellied plover were ap- 
proaching, as we could tell by their white rump- 
patches as they wheeled up-wind. They didn't 
like Walter's huddled, motionless form and 
alighted, just out of range, across our pond. 

"Kid, if you dare bat an eyelash I'll massage 
your dinner basket with the butt of this shotgun!" 
I whispered to the excited boy, who was cautiously 
edging the blue barrel of his little weapon out 
through the scrub. The flock played, gamboled, 
pecked at each other and chivied one another 
about, occasionally dipping their bills in deep in 
search of small crustaceans; but they kept off 
about forty-five yards and seemed to be working 
gradually away from our dumb decoys. Out of 
the corner of my eye I saw Walter executing an 
incredible flank movement in the face of the enemy ; 
humping along flat on the wet marsh a yard at a 
time, he was working into a position where the 
birds would go towards our stools by preference, 
giving his strange and unusual shape a wide berth 
as always. Gradually they played and fed over 



132 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

until they were fairly among our wooden effigies, 
and one of them even pecked peevishly at a tooth- 
pick bill. 

" Ready, Bo," called Walter out of his left ear. 
i ' Let the Kid fire first, and you take those two on 
your end — Now!" 

Like a flash the Kid was on his knees, and 
Spank! went the 28, dropping the bird nearest, 
while Walter and I crashed into the main flock. 
Five crumpled up, while Walter knocked over an- 
other as the flock was whirling out of range, pass- 
ing him up-wind, as is their invariable instinct. 

1 ' Fine teamwork, old top ! Eh, what ! ' ' I called 
as Walter waded out to gather in the slain. "Six 
down, or I'm a Jew!" 

"Wait till they've hung a day or so and I get a 
chance to make you a beccassine a la risotto out of 
them," grinned Walter, stumbling in with the dan- 
gling birds. "You'll wish the whole earth was 
plover and you had to eat your way from the cen- 
tre out ! ' ' 

Back in the blind again, while quiet settled over 
the whole vast marsh, with its thousand ponds 
basking placidly in the sunlight. Now and then 
the querulous call of a gull would raise all the 
heads in the hide expectantly, only to drop again 
when a glance at the wing motion assured us it was 




SNIPE DECOYS SET OUT 

They should go 18 yards from the hide to the farthest snipe, should 
fare up-wind and not he hunched too much. 




THE KID AND . 
SOME OF HIS PLOVER 



AX ALLIGATOR HUNT 

Killed with a .22. 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 133 

not a willet. Walter sniffed the air uneasily. 
' ' Man, ' ' said he at length, " I've never yet seen con- 
ditions so exactly right to fish the Hole as they 
are this morning. The tide is just starting to ebb 
and the wind is making up strong out of the south- 
east. The birds are about done for the day, so 
what do you say to an hour 's fishing the Hole and 
then get grub for — " 

"Mark southwest!" — thus the humble historian 
of these events, who owns the longest ears on any 
animal save a donkey, and had heard the liquid 
notes of a tattler or greater yellowlegs abroad in 
the marsh while listening to the above exhortation 
with the other ear. Now a quick flash of wings on 
the far horizon caught our eyes and everybody 
crouched. 

"He's at least a mile off, but I'll try calling 
him," muttered Walter, raising the bone whistle 
to his lips. Hu-hu-hu-hu! drooled the call, and 
presently the answer sounded, nearer, and we saw 
the foolish bird, still nearly a mile away, turn 
from his course and rush to his doom to the tune 
of our seductive blandishments. Walter re- 
doubled his efforts. "Wouldn't sell this old pipe 
for a million," he ejaculated between calls ; "made 
her myself, and the tone is just right. Here he 
comes — down ! you beggars ! ' ' 



134 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

The big fellow cupped his wings and craned his 
long neck down over the decoys. "Tsearp!" 
chirped Walter, coaxingly. ' ' Come on in, the feed- 
in 's fine!" 

But either the Kid or I must have wiggled a fin 
or flickered an eyelash, for suddenly, with a sus- 
picious swoop, the big bird put on a raft of power 
and whirled by us like an express train. 

" Shoot l" barked Walter. I blundered to my 
knees, fumbled the gun to my shoulder, took a 
long, careful aim, and scored — a clean miss ! 

"Je-ftos-o-phat!" exploded Walter, "but you 
were slower than running mo-lasses with that 
bird ! You hung over that aim so long I thought 
you would finally decide to take it home with you 
and petrify the pose for a keepsake I" 

"I wanted to make sure of him," answered I 
meekly enough. ' ' He certainly went by like a bat 
out of — well, let's go fish the Hole !" 

For answer Walter waded out and gathered up 
the decoys, stepping over his boot-tops in a hid- 
den marsh hole and adding much to the hilarity 
of the occasion thereby. I picked up the slain — 
five golden plover, seven blackbellies, two creakers, 
seven yellowlegs, one willet — and put them and the 
shells in the tarp, while Walter and the Kid fol- 
lowed me to the boat with armfuls of decoys and 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 135 

guns. We apprehended the duckboat and pushed 
off to the Ladybird. There was a strong sea on, 
rolling up Jones' Inlet, and I foresaw squalls 
ahead for the Kid, who was addicted to seasick- 
ness. 

The guns were laid on the cabin roof, so as to be 
handy for passing shots, and Walter went below 
for the basket of shedder crabs for bait. 

The tackle rig is a stout three-way swivel with 
a 4-ounce pyramid sinker on a 9-inch line at the 
lower end of it, the 18-strand main line at the upper 
end, and a strong twisted gut leader a yard long 
attached to the middle loop of the swivel. This 
leader may have one or two hooks, as preferred. 
It is imperative to cast at least a hundred feet 
from the boat if you want big fish, and the water 
in the Hole is 27 feet deep, with the tide scouring 
into it like a mill-race ; so light tackle is out of the 
question. I once tried a standard black-bass bait- 
casting line in the Hole, but — never again! You 
had to "play" even an ordinary sea crab harder 
than a two-pound bass to land him, and every big 
salt-water fish that took hold broke the 12-pound 
bass line I was using. 

Be that as it may, we three rigged our surf-cast- 
ing outfits and baited up as soon as possible. Wal- 
ter and I cast two hundred feet from the boat, 



136 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

while the Kid, with a light boat rod, fished directly 
under the Ladybird for flounders. He also was 
the first to report a bite. An unmistakable yank 
on a rod that refused to budge told us that he was 
anchored into a big fish — and then a prodigious 
" hurrah 's-nest" broke out below! The Kid 
could not turn the reel handle during the fish's 
rushes, but he could thumb the reel spool, and he 
stuck to it like a puppy to a root, with the rod 
butt under his armpit and some of it sticking out 
beyond his shoulder-blades. 

"Gee, papa, how he pulls !" would come the per- 
spiring bulletins as the red-faced 11-year-old 
cranked away at his reel during the intervals when 
the fish wasn't bent on taking soundings to the bot- 
tom of Jones' Hole. Finally he came to the sur- 
face and Walter netted him deftly, a big flounder 
a yard long that went five pounds flat. 

The Kid swelled with pride as he beheld his van- 
quished foe flopping about in the cockpit. ' ' Gee, 
papa!" he burbled, "that's the very biggest fish I 
ever caught in my life!" 

"I'll grab his grandfather for you in a jiffy," 
chirped Walter, despatching the flounder with a 
club, and he picked up his rod, took a feel of the 
tide-strain on sinker to assure himself that there 
were no crabs chewing his bait, and resumed his 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 137 

attitude of tense expectancy on the engine hatch 
in the stern of the Ladybird. 

Presently, "Whoa, there, you Betsey Jane!" 
We all watched him and distinctly saw the second 
faint tug which denotes a big tide-runner weak- 
fish taking hold. 

"Now, you Betsey Jane! you behave yourself !" 
said Walter sotto voce, scolding his rod as if it 
were a pet dog. Yink!! The Kid's fish was as 
nothing to this baby! Nearly two hundred feet 
from the boat and twenty-seven feet under the 
waves, he slashed the line through the water like 
a ripsaw, circling and summersaulting about, 
while the master-fisherman at the other end of the 
debate gave him line when he got too fierce, and 
reeled him in, inflexible as Destiny, the rest of the 
time. As he neared the boat the action became 
swifter and swifter ; he circled the duckboat, forc- 
ing Walter to pass his rod under the painter of 
the latter ; he had to be held back by main strength 
from taking a turn about our anchor rope; he 
dove under the power-boat, wrapping the stout 
Betsey Jane around the Ladybird's bottom; he 
bored straight down for the depths of the Hole, 
tugging the line foot by foot and yard by yard 
from under Walter 's reluctant thumb ; and pande- 
monium broke loose by the yellful as I finally 



138 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

scapped him and Walter beat his brains out in the 
cockpit with the oaken billy. 

" Eight and one-half pounds and as long as an 
oar," announced he, holding up the scales, while 
the Kid stood around with popping eyes and 
openly adored him. It was a big ocean weakfish 
— thirty-one inches of iridescent silveriness, gor- 
geous with red and pearl and opal scales flashing 
in the sunlight ; the sea trout, one of the most beau- 
tiful fish that swims in the ocean and as unlike the 
little quarter-grown bay weakfish in his fighting 
powers as bass is unlike perch. 

All this time my line had received no more at- 
tention than a flea on a pig, and Walter had more 
than once broadly hinted that it was about time 
that I began catching something else besides sea- 
crabs and festoons of seaweed. The Kid had 
added two more flounders to the mess — where was 
his dad coming in on this as a meat man, he would 
like to know ! They were just about promulgating 
a rule that no one should eat any fish except those 
he personally caught, when something pounced 
vigorously on my line and began flirting about the 
Hole with it. 

"Kingfish!" pronounced Walter. "I can tell 
by the way he took hold of you. Don't lose him 
— that's our supper you've got there, man!" As- 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 139 

suming this tremendous responsibility, I played 
him in without incident, considerably disappointed 
at the meager fight he put up. But Walter was 
overjoyed as he weighed up the 3y 2 pounds of 
barred brown and lavender kingfish that we lifted 
from the net. l ' Now we '11 have the finest feed you 
ever flapped your lips over ! ' ' quoth he. ' ' If there 
is any better eating fish than the kingie, I have not 
yet come up with it. This bet takes in all trout 
and bass, as well as the whole salt-water tribes !" 

Unaccountably the fishing went flat in the Hole 
after my kingfish came aboard. Walter could not 
understand it, as minute after minute went by with 
three idle lines going. " Never in my life were 
conditions better for good fishing, and I sure can't 
make this out!" he averred. "With the ebbing 
tide all the big fish come off the flats and make for 
this hole to get the tide scourings, and with the 
wind as it is we ought to get some good fish. I 
sure want to see that kid of yours fast to a big 
fish ! ' ' But still they refused to bite, and an hour 
went by, while a state of somnolence crept over 
us. "Better start dinner, Walter," said I. 
"There's nothing doing here — " 

"There isn't, hey? Look at my line, will you! 
Look at that!— whoa, there, you Betsey Jane!" 
Walter's line was creeping steadily out, a yard at 



140 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

a time, and now lie struck savagely. "Get your 
camera, quick! Fve got the whole U-nited States 
on the other end of this here ! ' ' 

I dove below and soon brought up the camera, 
cocked and primed. Four times during the fell 
fight that ensued Walter was almost yanked from 
his feet into the sea, and as many times I tackled 
him around the waist from the cockpit and held 
him on for dear life. At the end of fifteen minutes 
the big fellow was still going strong, in huge cir- 
cles about the boat, while the reel steadily worked 
him in. ' ' Get the gaff, fellah ! ' ' gasped Walter— 
"for'd — under the — starboard — bow deck!" 

I heard squeals of excitement from the Kid as 
I hurriedly ferreted out the gaff from the mass of 
decoys, crab-nets and fishing " props" under the 
bow, and rushed on deck in time to see a fish five 
feet long swimming alongside. A swift strike of 
the gaff and we had him impaled, and the two of 
us hauled him aboard, biting and striking, a big 
shark with malignant green eyes and teeth like a 
wolf. The gaff was our only control over him, but 
to that I held with an iron grip while Walter 
stabbed him with a hunting knife and the Kid 
clubbed him with the billy. Then Walter got a 
toe-hold on his tail and I withdrew the gaff as he 
swung him aloft with a giant swing and brought 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 141 

down full force on the cockpit coaming. Then we 
returned him to his relatives in the fishy deep. 

"And that's the reason why there has been no 
fishing for the last hour!" declared Walter, as 
soon as he could get his breath. "That * sooner' 
scared every fish out of the Hole and there won't 
be any more until the next tide. ' ' He reeled in as 
he spoke and went below, whence sundry savoury 
odours and inviting sizzlings soon spread a fero- 
cious appetite about the cockpit. We became too 
feeble to fish and, in fact, used up the very last of 
our strength in staggering down into the cabin, 
where, sitting face to face with a great pot of cof- 
fee, a pail of creamed spuds and two square feet 
of fried kingfish, soon brought us to again. The 
cabin pitched and rocked like a Coney Island tum- 
bler. Walter and I, having cast-iron digestive ap- 
paratus, warranted not to hop, did not notice the 
reeling and tossing in the least, but the Kid turned 
yellow about the gills and the cabin was all moving 
walls to him. Presently he left hurriedly for the 
outer ramparts. 

" 'Smatter, Kid? What's coming off out 
there ? " I called with paternal solicitude. 

"Chummin' (hie) for weakfish, papa," chirped 
the game youngster, who would have his joke, even 
in the throes of death ! 



142 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

" Guess we'd better up anchor and make for the 
Shack/ ' vouchsafed Walter, "or we'll have him 
down with a bad headache. It's past three now 
and we have ten miles to go. ' ' 

Without losing any further time I snubbed up 
the mudhook while Walter groomed the engine, 
and presently we were under way, speeding up 
this channel and down that, through the endless 
labyrinth made by the green islands of the marsh. 
Our objective was a little board shack put up by 
Walter some years before near the Pass, a famous 
duck wingway leading in from the ocean-front 
dunes to the marshes. Only those who have been 
there can realise the vastness of this great archi- 
pelago of marsh islands, the whole forming one 
green expanse, with the channels out of sight be- 
tween them, so that ships and boats seem to be 
cutting their way through the solid marsh. At 
first our shack was a mere black tooth jutting up 
on the far horizon, but as we spun along down the 
intricate map of waterways, known like an open 
book to Walter, keeping all the while a sharp look- 
out for snipe flocks, we gradually brought it nearer 
to us until it was only about a mile off in a direct 
line. 

Suddenly, < ' Holy Mike ! Mark north I " I yelled, 
pointing across the marsh. "Only look at them, 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 143 

man, dear ! " " They were as big as gulls, but their 
wings fluttered like winnowing machines and there 
must have been at least fifty of them in the flock. 

"Jack curlew!'' barked Walter excitedly, shut- 
ting off the engine. "Mark where they light." 

"There they go down — in line with that brush- 
stake and that church over on the mainland," I 
called. 

"Hold it!" cried Walter, starting up again, and 
he swung the Ladybird towards the marsh-bank 
following my bearing. We shoved her nose on the 
bank and got the anchor out on the marsh. Then 
Walter* and I crept on all fours over the grass a 
hundred yards apart, rising up cautiously now and 
then to look. 

Suddenly Walter changed his plan and began a 
set of manoeuvres that were to me inexplicable. 
First he stood up, in plain view of all the birds in 
the marsh; but when I essayed to do likewise he 
waved me down so energetically that he could not 
be disobeyed. Then he strolled unconcernedly 
back to the boat, but when I attempted to follow 
I got a furious signal to keep down. Then he and 
the Kid got into the duck-boat, and soon their 
heads began to move along just above the marsh, 
while I began to sense glimmerings of a game of 
strategy that should have been obvious to the in- 



1U SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

telligence of a frog in the first place. Evidently 
there was some obstruction in the marsh, like a 
deep wide creek, and the birds were beyond it, so 
Walter had taken the duck-boat up the main chan- 
nel to get on the other side of them and thus give 
us all a shot. 

This plan went swiftly to completion. Soon the 
heads had reached a point directly opposite to me, 
a quarter of a mile away, and presently two 
humpy figures crept little by little across the 
marsh towards me. Nearer and nearer they came, 
in short creeping runs ; suddenly the flock rose out 
of the marsh pond and Pank! went the Kid's 28, 
bringing one to earth. Then Walter arose and 
opened up like a tornado, his old scatter-gun deal- 
ing out swift death like a vast invisible flail that 
struck down bird after bird with every discharge. 
One cripple fled shrieking across the marsh, only 
to be overtaken by the same swift death as Wal- 
ter 's fourth report rang out. 

The flock came directly down-wind in a bunch 
towards me. I squatted, a motionless hump in 
the marsh, as inert as the log I sat on. ' ' Tsearp ! ' ' 
I whistled coaxingly. " Don't mind all that noise 
back there, friends, but come on in and settle 
here." Those fool birds actually cupped their 
wings and started to alight on my very hat ! This 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 145 

would never do ; they would get blown all to bits ! 
Up, Guards, and at them! The flock wheeled 
sharply as my gun flew to shoulder, and at a neat 
22 yards I opened up and dropped the first curlew 
stone dead across the creek. Then that old full- 
choked, hard-hitting trap left on my double 
reached out and grabbed two more at about 40 
yards, and my part of the programme was over. 
Walter's little game of strategy had been com- 
pletely successful and we had seven curlew to show 
for his knowledge of their flight and habits. 

By the time the spoils of conquest had been gath- 
ered and the Ladybird gotten under way again, 
the sun had set over the green-and-gold marshes. 
As we sped along we passed the shack again at, 
maybe, five hundred yards, but still a wide stretch 
of marsh and channel lay between us and it. Then 
a wide turn around a final point, and we were 
headed down a broad channel towards the open 
ocean, with the white lines of surf breaking on the 
bar at the lower end of it. The heavens were still 
filled with roseate splendour as we zigzagged our 
way through tortuous channels across the shoals 
to the shack; but down over the Pass was a sight 
to make any gunner's pulse beat the faster, for 
moving over it like a vast cloud was a queer shape 
of tiny black stipplings, constantly altering, now 



146 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

a long, attenuated serpentine figure, now bunched 
up like a pear, now with a lower lip hanging down, 
and then drawn up again as a curtain. 

Walter far-sighted it, his sunburned face puck- 
ered up in a wuzzle. ' ' Black-bellied plover going 
through the Pass," pronounced he with bated 
breath; " there must be at least a thousand in that 
flock !" 

Presently we made the shack and unlocked its 
weather-beaten door. The incessant wind howled 
about its corners and wailed through every crack 
and crevice in its walls. There was a large marsh- 
pond behind the shack, with three great blue her- 
ons feeding in it — suitable fowl for our back-door 
yard! Walter and I busied ourselves about the 
little rusty stove, while the Kid stripped and went 
in for a swim in the clear salt water of the chan- 
nel. For supper we had beccassine sautee a la Cre- 
ole, which, in good United States, is golden plover 
and onions, steamed and basted in the frypan with 
a squeeze of lemon ; weakfish steaks from that big 
one who got too argumentative with Betsey Jane ; 
creamed potatoes; a bucket of tea; and a pailful 
of stewed apricots and prunes mixed. The Kid 
tucked away some three or four assorted plates of 
this sturdy grub and was then himself tucked away 
to bed, for he had had a busy day. 



SHORE BIRD SHOOTING 147 

Walter and I lit our pipes, grabbed our surf- 
rods and started along the strand for the beach, 
to fish the ocean on a flooding tide by moonlight. 
The surf was high, as often on this coast, but by 
walking along the beach a mile or so we at length 
found a hole that could be fished, and landed two 
kingfish, a blue, and a couple of flounders in about 
an hour's fishing. I was more interested in the 
stage setting, however ; fascinating to me were the 
moonlight on the restless ocean, the ceaseless 
whistle and whine of the wind, the continuous roar 
and wash of the angry surf, the ghostly white 
dunes with their inky shadows in the moonbeams, 
the litter of wreckage on the lonely beach, and the 
flash and stare of the distant lighthouses, sole re- 
minders that the world was still inhabited. It was 
a wild place, and it was good to feel oneself again 
a mere infinitesimal atom in the vast scheme of 
Nature 's world. 



CHAPTER IX 

DUCK SHOOTING ANTICIPATION 

As the wintry blasts of late November began to 
drive the ducks southward, The Boy and I aban- 
doned the quail uplands for the salt marshes. Our 
first problem was what would be the best duck load 
for the Boy's 28-gauge. With a light twelve, such 
as a boy of fourteen or fifteen could shoot, the 
standard load for salt water ducks would be \y± 
ounce No. 4's chilled, because it takes a heavy pel- 
let to penetrate their thick coat of feathers. For 
fresh water ducks — mallards, teal, redheads and 
the like, fives are better because of the increased 
number of pellets in the shot pattern. But, for a 
28 or a 20, fours and fives would be out of the 
question, because their little loads of % and % 
ounces of shot, respectively, would contain so few 
pellets as to make it a very scattering shot pattern 
at the ranges ducks are shot at over the decoys — 
25 to 35 yards. Now, an old duckshooting friend 
of mine has a boy known to fame as The Cub, and 
he shoots ducks with a 20-gauge, picking them out 

148 



WILD FOWL 149 

of the air with the little gun as accurately as a man 
can with the twelve. Also, another great sports- 
man friend of mine, Frank Stick, the artist who 
does many of the Field and Stream covers, shoots 
a 20 by preference and he uses it for all feathered 
game from ducks to quail. Both of these 20-gauge 
shots use 6's for ducks and seldom make any crip- 
ples, and with this to guide us we chose 6's for the 
28, with some shells loaded with 7's to fall back on 
in case the misses with the 6's got too heartrend- 
ing. 

The next thing to do was to fix on a date for our 
duck trip to Barnegat. It will not do to just pick 
out a hard and fast date suitable to business or 
school conditions, for a fair calm day is the worst 
possible one for ducks, and any such day in a fair- 
weather spell will turn out a failure. The time to 
go is just after a big northeast storm that has 
torn plenty of food loose from the bottom, and 
stirred up the great rafts of ducks and made them 
break up into restless small groups flying from 
point to point. Such a storm will surely come late 
in November, and then is the time to break away 
from business, play hookey from school, and GO ! 
for your really good duck weather only occurs but 
a few times in a season. 
Standard trapshooting is of little value in hit- 



150 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

ting ducks— they do not fly away from you as do 
the clay pigeons, but your shots will all be jumping 
shots, circling, crossing, and overhead, flying right 
at you. As the Boy did not want to go down to 
Barnegat totally unprepared for ducks we set 
aside several afternoons in November for practice 
with the fixed and hand traps, imitating duck flight 
as seen from the blind as closely as possible. For 
this we did not use No. 6 shot as we would in duck 
shooting but rather No. 8's chilled because the clay 
pigeon is enough smaller than even a small duck 
like a teal or a ruddy duck as to require a cor- 
respondingly small size of shot and dense pattern. 
The commonest shot in duck shooting is when they 
jump up from the decoys, a hard one to hit for they 
go up like rockets and you must either hold three 
or four feet above them or else wait for the top 
of the rise and take them when they stop to circle 
away horizontally. With broadbill the jump is 
not over fifteen feet, and the shot is rather easy if 
you only keep cool and wait. A black duck or a 
mallard may climb seventy-five feet before he 
stops to fly away horizontally and if he is far out 
the only thing to do is to hold above him with fast 
rising gun and stop him on the jump. 

To imitate these two shots I hid in a narrow ra- 
vine in an open field, giving the Boy the same open 





MAKING GOOD AT TRAPSHOOTIXG 

Youthful winner of the preliminary handicap at the Grand American 

Trapshoot. 



WILD FOWL 151 

skyline for his shots as in duck shooting, and I sta- 
tioned him 20 yards away — the standard distance 
from the blind to the centre of the decoys — and 
then I threw up the blue rocks by hand to imitate 
the jump of a broadbill and shot them up with the 
hand trap on rather weak spring to imitate mal- 
lards. When he steadied down and began to 
smear them regularly at the top of the jump, I in- 
creased the tension on the spring and sent them 
up at considerable angle, making the Kid hold 
above them and break them on the rise. 

Another common shot in duck shooting is when 
they circle about the decoys and you can tell by 
their actions that they do not intend to settle but 
will keep right on faster than ever, being suspi- 
cious of what they have already seen of the de- 
coys. To get this shot we set the trap to shoot at 
right angles to the Kid's position, so that the birds 
would pass him at about 25 yards, the trap being 
set 30 yards to the right of his position. A lead 
of from four to six feet, with quick swinging gun 
enabled the Kid to hit these crossing birds after a 
little practice. Next I trained him on the hardest 
shot of all, incoming ducks which come right on 
over the decoys and over the blind, sprigtail doing 
this quite low and almost impossible to hit, and 
black ducks usually sheering high and passing 



152 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

overhead about 75 feet up. With sprig your best 
chance is to turn around and rake him astern, hold- 
ing well below ; with black ducks the overhead shot 
with gun on top of shoulder, fast swinging and 
leading him six to eight feet is the best bet. 

In all this practice shooting for ducks the Boy 
was not allowed to stand up and take them easy, 
but was rather forced to lie down in an improvised 
blind and rise and shoot, sitting or kneeling, upon 
the whistled signal. How much difference this 
makes in one 's ability to hit them must be tried to 
be appreciated, but that is the way your duck 
chances come, in point and battery shooting, and 
it is well to get used to handling the gun from all 
sorts of impossible positions before you go after 
the ducks themselves. 

At last the great storm came, and after it a 
windy day when the sky was rained out, the grey 
clouds raced across the sky overhead, and one 
could almost smell ducks in the misty air. Early 
in the dark before dawn we boarded the Barnegat 
train, with our guns, shells, a dozen cork decoys in 
a gunny sack and a dozen folding paraffine paper 
decoys in the Kid's knapsack. We each wore rub- 
ber hip boots, wool sweaters, light drab canvas 
coats and trousers, and light drab canvas hats. A 
dark hat is fatal in the blinds, the ducks can spot 



WILD FOWL 153 

it a mile and one cannot peep a head above tho 
reeds to be on the lookout without being seen. 

Soon we piled out of the train at Seaside Park 
and hired a duck boat. This is a low, broad craft 
with rounded deck, a small sail and a centreboard, 
and a railing around the cockpit in which to stick 
up a screen of sedge grass for concealment. The 
little sprit sail was set and we spun off before the 
wind, over the dark tumbling waters with no other 
guide but the low, black shores and the winking 
and flashing lights of the various Bay lighthouses. 
About two miles down the Bay on the eastern shore 
we chose a point and ran the boat on the beach. 
First mooring her, broadside to, in a little indenta- 
tion, the Kid piled wet sea-grass all over her decks 
while I made a high fringe of sedge grass sticking 
up all around the cockpit. When we had finished 
by piling dry marsh hay inside and covering it 
with the tarpaulin we had a comfortable hide, com- 
pletely merged into the shore line and seemingly 
an integral part of it. 

Next we waded out with the decoys into the shal- 
low water off the point. They should be about 
twenty yards from the hide to the inner ones of 
each group. The cork decoys were anchored in a 
group of twelve, each one attached to an anchor 
with six feet of fishline, the anchor being a 4 ounce 



154 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

pyramid sinker. These decoys represented broad- 
bills or scaup ducks, and, as the black ducks will 
not associate with them, a second group was made 
of the dozen folding paper decoys which repre- 
sented black ducks. This second group was placed 
a few yards to windward of the broadbill group. 
The folding decoys are made of paraffined paper, 
with a flat board float shoved inside. An adjust- 
able weight serves to keep them on an even keel 
and also keeps them from tipping over from the 
wind. They are anchored the same as the cork 
decoys, and each one must have room enough to 
' ' visit' ' about as the wind drives it, to the end of 
its anchor line without colliding with the nearest 
neighbour. In a heavy wind and choppy sea these 
folding decoys are apt to upset and come to grief, 
so that one's main reliance should be on the cork 
decoys. This job finished, we climbed into the 
cockpit of the duckboat, lay down side by side, and 
were ready for the ducks. 



CHAPTER X 

DUCK SHOOTING REALISATION 

Now the first grey streaks of dawn appeared in 
the east, and with fingers numb from handling the 
wet decoys we got ready the guns and lay down in 
the cockpit of the duckboat, which, as you will re- 
member, in our last chapter had been converted 
into a point blind by covering with seaweed and 
putting up a screen of sedge grass through the rail- 
ing around the outside of the cockpit. 

"Now, Kid, load the 28 and put three shells on 
the cockpit coaming, sticking through the sedge 
and handy to get at." 

I did the same with the shells of my double 
twelve-gauge Parker, instructing him also to lay 
the gun with its barrels poking through the sedge 
in position for instant use. So long as the barrels 
remain motionless the ducks seem to consider them 
as part of the scenery and mind them not at all. 

"Now, you watch all the bay you can see to the 
north and northwest, while I will do the same with 
the south and southwest. Most of the birds will 
come directly in from out in the bay, circle upwind 

155 



156 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

and make for the decoys — after which, goodness 
only knows what they will do ! ' ' 

For some minutes we lay motionless, peering 
through the tops of the sedge screen around the 
cockpit. Then — ' ' Mark, northwest, father ! ' ' 
came the Kid's low, tense whisper. 

Over they came, over the grey waves; fifteen 
dark specks, flying low with fast-flapping wings, 
fast as bullets and heading directly for the decoys. 

"Broadbills, son!" I exclaimed, laying a re- 
straining hand on the Kid's shaking shoulder. 

1 ' Prrrh ! Prrrh !— Get ready, Kid ! " 

We crouched down in the hay with finger on 
trigger while the flock circled upwind. Half a 
dozen dropped out and splashed down amid the 
decoys. The rest circled once again and started 
to fly away. Seeing this the six in the decoys 
jumped. 

Bang! — Bang! Spank! went the ready guns, 
taking them at the top of the jump. "Beload for 
all you're worth, son!" I cried. " Never mind 
that cripple just now — take that fellow crossing!" 

The bunch had exploded every which way at our 
fire, one bewildered duck turning completely 
around and flying across the stools to regain his 
comrades. Him I dropped on the Kid's miss. 

" Three down, anyway — quick! — hit that cripple 



DUCK SHOOTING 157 

before he dives I" The Kid's 28 flashed to shoul- 
der and his shot splattered the waves where the 
duck had been. "Gee, that was a hen redhead, 
Boy ! Watch out for her bill, for that is all you 
will see when she comes up again. ' ' 

We waded out to pick up the slain. "Good 
shooting, kidlet ! You got that duck just as pretty 
at the top of his rise — Shoot! — there she comes V 1 
Both guns roared together, spreading a veritable 
shower of shot where a bill stuck up out of the 
waters not twenty feet away. "Got her that 
time ! That makes four ; some clean-up ! Hurry, 
now, back to the blind. ' ' 

Half an hour passed without incident. We 
opened a thermos bottle and each took a nip of hot 
coffee to drive away the chills. "Mark west!" I 
yelled, hastily corking the bottle. "Down! 
Down ! Keep down, Kid ; they 're flying high ! ' ' 

A flock of five " Jakeys," as the black ducks are 
called by the baymen, flapped towards us, flying 
high, as is their wont. We lay flat as pancakes. 

"Keb! Keb! Keb!" I called alluringly. But 
the old leader was wary. He stretched down his 
long, snaky neck inquiringly. Those wooden de- 
coys didn't look good to him; suddenly he sheered 
up, put on a raft of power and they went directly 
over us, 25 yards high. 



158 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 



ii 



Shoot! Quick, Kid!" 

Blam ! spoke the twelve as the Kid wabbled and 
pottered about, trying to balance his gun on top 
of his shoulder. The old leader came down with 
a thud not more than ten feet from the boat. 
"Gee, Boy, but you were slower than molasses in 
January with that duck ! Eemember that they are 
going only about 110 miles an hour, and you 
haven't got all day to shoot in!" 

The Kid brought him in to the boat, a big duck, 
22 inches long from bill to tail feather. We set- 
tled down again without a shot for some time, but 
the wait was full of thrills, for ducks in flights 
small and large were winging up and down the 
bay, all more or less out of range, but each near 
enough for us to dodge down flat and call our 
best. 

Then, "Mark north, papa!" 

A flock of broadbills was winging low over the 
waves, 'way to the north but headed to pass our 
decoys far out. 

"I'll try and get them in, son," said I, grabbing 
off my hat and swinging it quickly once or twice in 
a vertical semicircle above the sedge screen. In- 
stantly they veered and swung into our stools. 
"They're wild and are not going to stop, Kid; get 
ready! — Now!" 



■jg&*. 



BROADBILL DECOYS ANCHORED OFF A POINT 
The distance is about 20 yards from the blind 
to males, 3 to 2. «"«u 



proport 




A MALLARD HIDE IN THE WILD RICE 

These decoys are too near the hide and too many drakes. The hide 

on the point to the left would be better 




HROWIXG OUT THE DECOY.' 



a?« s Mn&t -ar^a t&s ax ° f *- «- « 



DUCK SHOOTING 159 

We both arose and gave them a greeting as they 
swung over the decoys. Two dropped, nice cross 
shots, both of them. 

"Now I'll explain a bit," said I as we waded out 
to pick them up. ' ' That hat stunt was to imitate 
a duck jumping of! the water and alighting a yard 
or so further on. They often do that when visit- 
ing and feeding. One duck pecks another and he 
jumps and tumbles again a little further on. The 
flash of that hat above the sedge looked just like 
feeding ducks to them at the distance that flock 
was away. Without attracting their attention 
that way they would have never noticed our decoys 
at all. And I could tell by the way they sheered 
up when they circled that they weren't going to 
alight. Some day I'll teach you the difference be- 
tween the Keb ! Keb ! Keb ! of a scolding mallard 
hen and the Miamph ! Miamph ! of a duck with his 
mouth full of feed. Meanwhile, try your hand at 
this duck call. Put the wooden end of it in your 
mouth and close your hand over the metal end. 
The trick is to flap it open simultaneously with 
making a quack with the call. Only so can you get 
a convincing quack. Try it." The Kid grabbed 
the duck call, and, after some ludicrous efforts, 
soon got quite expert with it, manipulating his 
hand simultaneously with the blow for loud quack- 



160 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

ing calls and covering it artistically for the low 
conversational duck talk that goes on while a flock 
is feeding. In the midst of which — 

"Drop it! — Heavens, mark southwest! Down! 
Flat down I" 

A great flock of jakeys were fluttering across the 
sky in a long silent V. Artfully we quacked, one 
blatant, squawking, scolding call, and then were 
silent, crouching down with ready guns. They cir- 
cled high, cupped their wings and volplaned down. 
The air was full of ducks. Thirty dropped out 
and began visiting among our stools. The rest 
hovered, and duck after duck dropped down on the 
water. The Kid shivered with excitement — never 
was such a thrilling moment ! 

"Now, Boy, take it easy!" I admonished in a 
low tone. "You've only got one shot and had bet- 
ter get your eye on one particular bird and take 
him the instant he flashes up from the water. I'll 
get one on the rise and one of the top of the jump 
— if we have luck! They'll get onto those paper 
decoys in a moment ! — Now ! ! ' ' 

We rose to our knees, and with a deafening roar 
of wings the great flock jumped for the sky. The 
28 knocked one right off the water and crippled 
another, the twelve got two on the rise and stopped 
another dead at the top of the jump. Then a lot 



DUCK SHOOTING 161 

of promiscuous firing into a maze of circling ducks 
and the flock was off and out of range. 

"Gee, pop — what a day!" gasped the Kid, his 
eyes dancing with excitement. 

"Pretty good, for Barnegat — or Great South 
Bay either — these times. But it's about over, son, 
for here comes the rain. ' ' 

It came down in sheets. We ate lunch under the 
"tarp" and later decided it was to be an all-after- 
noon downpour. 

1 ' No use, Kid ; no ducks paying any attention to 
decoys in this rain; it's time to up stools and go 
home. ' ? 

So we took up the decoys, packed them, cleaned 
up the boat and set sail hilariously in the rain for 
Seaside Park, with six black ducks, seven broad- 
bills and a redhead to show for the day's sport. 
Like all games where one follows the shotgun or 
rifle, it called for grit in enduring hardship, skill 
in woodcraft and the use of the gun, besides a host 
of minor accomplishments such as sailing a boat in 
a storm, canoeing, hitting the trail and portage, 
camp craft, cookery, and, above all, a sunny and 
gloom-proof character. 



CHAPTER XI 

A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 

We are a nation of riflemen. Pessimists are 
inclined to shake their heads and pnt it "we were 
a nation of riflemen, ' ' but as a matter of fact there 
are a good many more riflemen in the country now 
than ever before. The United States Biological 
Survey puts the number of licensed hunters in this 
country at four and a half million in round num- 
bers, and this takes no account of the great south- 
ern section of the country where the State license 
system has hardly yet come into existence. Dur- 
ing the agitation for national defense Field and 
Stream made a canvass, covering all sections of 
the country, to learn how many and what arms the 
four and a half million licensed hunters carried, 
and it found that they owned one shotgun, one 
rifle and half a revolver per man. That accounts 
for the query, "where do the arms manufacturers 
dispose of the big game rifles that they sell at the 
rate of over a million a year?" Judging from 
what you see in the great cities, none of our citi- 

162 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 163 

zens know anything about a rifle ; but go into the 
country, the farms and small towns which contain 
the vast bulk of our population, and you will find 
the rifle and proficiency in its use, as of old. 

Most of our riflemen become experts when boys. 
We all begin with the accurate, hard-hitting air 
rifle, and usually at the age of ten to eleven years. 

"When I was a boy the "star" air rifle was the 
red " Chicago,' ' a weapon with a brass tube and 
brass air chamber mounted in a red stock of hard 
wood. It had a powerful spring and it took all 
your strength to load. But it shot hard and ac- 
curately and was good for squirrels, rabbits, larks, 
high-holers and robins, all of which were in copi- 
ous abundance in those days and formed the boys' 
game and meat. A pound of BB shot kept you 
in ammunition a long while, and enabled thousands 
of shots to be fired in practice at little cost. I 
wore out three of those rifles before graduating 
into the .22 powder rifle, and, together with all 
the rest of the tribe became a nail driver, that is, 
we could drive in a nail by hitting it on the head 
as far as we could see it. Such a mark as a grape 
or a dime at twenty-five feet was a cinch to us, we 
just couldn't miss it, and, for game, the red air 
rifles kept us always with plenty of meat in the 
stew. The city boys used to come out into the 



164 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

country armed with cheap, nickle-plated iron air 
rifles of no power and no accuracy, with a huge 
cast-iron front sight that could not be set or ad- 
justed and so untrue to themselves that never 
twice would the rifle put its bullet in the same spot. 
At first we looked with awe and envy on those 
shiny guns, as appearing exactly like a "real" 
gun, but the first shooting match against them dis- 
pelled the illusion ! 

But, alas ! for frail boy nature — the lure of that 
shiny weapon proved too much, in the gun store, 
to sell a "wooden" gun against it, and the nickle 
cheap-and-nastys drove the honest hard-hitting 
red gun out of the market, just as the white man 
has driven out the red. Then came a period when 
the air rifle fell into just disrepute; it became a 
dangerous plaything in the hands of the grasshop- 
per-brained city boys, and soon all the big popu- 
lous States legislated against it. We forest 
dwellers took to the .22 rifle and its heavier brother 
the .32 — and paid the price for the city boys' 
foolishness, the while we mourned the lost red 
rifle. But, of late years a change has come. A 
new rifle is on the market, for about $3, three 
times as much as the red rifle cost, but it is as hard 
shooting and accurate as the old red gun. Be- 
sides, it is a fast repeater, with a sliding wooden 




THE MOST POPULAR BIG-GAME, THE WHITE-TAILED DEER 

^"Inot^nfn y ° U , CRT 1 ha P. ff UP yOUr deer alone and unaided, 
one loot or the pole at a time. 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 165 

grip under the barrel just like a Winchester or 
Bemington pump ; it holds about fifty shot in the 
magazine, has a take-down screw so it can be taken 
apart and packed, and all its metal parts are dull 
blue steel. A fine weapon for $3 — how we boys 
would have jumped at it in our time! This gun 
I can recommend to any boy between the ages of 
ten and twelve years — pass over the cheap dollar 
rifle which cannot hit anything and save up for 
this one. If you can afford a little more, the steel 
air rifles that shoot heavy darts and slugs are al- 
most as powerful as a .22 and are entirely accu- 
rate. With a few darts almost unlimited practice 
can be had very cheaply, for you simply pull them 
out of the board target and use them over again. 
In the woods the slugs will be effective on any- 
thing you can hit. 

In all woods hunting with the air rifle you are 
in the Indian's class in stalking your game. Get 
up close by superior woodcraft, silence, and 
stealth before firing the fatal shot. All song 
birds, larks, flickers and small shore birds are now 
protected by the Federal Government, so your list 
of shootable game is much reduced; but a new 
form of hunting, pest killing, has grown up. Try 
your skill on the wiley crow, jays, hawks and other 
vermin and see how very much woodcraft and 



166 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

hunter's knowledge you will have to display to 
win out. Squirrels, rabbits, large shore birds, 
larks in the south, wild doves — these are about all 
the game the laws still leave to the boy hunter 
with his air rifle, so its principal use nowadays is 
preliminary practice for the .22 and the shotgun. 
In learning to shoot, discard anything you may 
have read about military rifle shooting systems. 
There is no " prone' ' nor "offhand" nor any 
other particular position in game shooting; most 
often it is standing up and shooting from the 
shoulder. A quick accurate aim is the ideal to 
work to. The military systems make for extreme 
accuracy, but, alas ! they take no account whatever 
of time, and your wild game seldom or never 
stands still. The fleeting moment when he stops 
all motion is your one chance to paste him, and 
a quick accurate aim is the only thing. Few real- 
ise how lightning-quick the eye is. The instant 
you see the game over the sights is the time to 
fire. A second later the muscles will have moved 
the sights away and another aim must be had. 
The thing, then, to train is the trigger finger and 
eye to work together instantly on orders from the 
brain. The eye tells the brain that the sights are 
lined up on the game and at that instant the trig- 
ger finger must release. That's all there is to it, 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 167 

but there is a long road between the beginner and 
the attainment of that ideal. As a boy I reached 
it in about four months of steady rifle practice, 
firing maybe fifty thousand rounds of BB's out 
of the red air rifle. 

The first thing to train is the muscles that hold 
the gun in position. They get tired and tremble 
just like any other muscles and must be hardened 
through much practice. A cheap way to do it is 
to have a tack head somewhere in your room and 
give at least fifteen minutes every day to aiming 
at it and firing the empty gun. "With some rifles 
this cannot be done without hurting the gun, but if 
you keep a few empty shells and extract them each 
time, turning them to a new firing position at each 
shot the wear on the firing pin will be small. This 
silent practice is almost as beneficial in training 
the eye, the trigger finger, and the muscles of arm 
and shoulder, legs and body as actual firing at a 
target, only there is no " answer' ' as to where your 
shot hit. 

Supplement it with frequent practice at stand- 
ard paper targets until your scores tell you you 
have acquired steadiness. In all this work take 
some time to each aim; it will not help your ac- 
curacy much, but it does help harden the muscles 
which do the work of holding. The standard tar- 



168 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

gets can be bought very cheaply from any sport- 
ing goods store. Begin with the inch bullseye at 
25 yards, the paper targets costing about a nickle 
for two dozen. Then the two-inch at 50 yards, 
followed by the four-inch at 100 and finally the 8- 
inch at 200 yards. Theoretically all these targets 
are equally easy to hit with the same holding, for 
they are all in direct proportion to the distance. 
Actually they are increasingly difficult owing to 
difficulties in windage, seeing clearly, mirage, etc. 
The limit of range for the air rifle is around 25 
yards ; start the target at 15 yards and work back 
to 25. Never try too long a range at the start, it 
is a pure waste of ammunition. The limit of the 
.22 rifle is 100 yards for accurate work using the 
long rifle cartridge. Here again start with easy 
ranges, fifteen to twenty yards, using the inch 
bullseye target and gradually moving it back to 
twenty-five yards. From there work back to the 
fifty-yard range with the 2-inch bull and then to 
the hundred-yard which is about as far as one 
needs to use the .22. A boy can become very ac- 
curate at even this range. Only a few days before 
this was written we were all shooting at the hun- 
dred-yard range, my own 11-year-old boy using his 
Stevens " Favourite' ' and long rifle cartridges. 
In his first round the Kid ran up 39 x 50 against my 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 169 

36 and was so chesty about it that I challenged 
him right off, as befitted the head of the family. 
So we went to it in earnest, and his next string 
showed a total of 44 x 50. This meant that all his 
shots were in that blessed four-inch bullseye ex- 
cept a couple, for we were shooting at a target 
that penalizes you one point for every inch or frac- 
tion away from the edge of the bull. This would 
never do ! so, pulling myself together, I went after 
him red-headed and rolled up a 47x50, which 
means that they were about all in the bull, only 
three points out of fifty penalization. 

But target practice is a bad thing except as a 
record to assist you in drawing closer and closer 
into the bull. You get too easily satisfied with 
shots that nearly hit the bull, counting up almost 
as high on your score as the bull itself, whereas 
in real game shooting "a miss is as good as a 
mile. ' ' In other words, if you cannot hit the bull, 
all the close misses in the world will not help. So, 
as soon as your scores show a reasonable accu- 
racy, drop the target and begin on marks, glass 
bottles, pebbles, tin cans, clay pigeons, anything 
that can be hit and made to bounce with a bullet. 
These ought to be out in the woods or on a fence 
post in an empty field so as to get you used to 
sighting conditions in the woods. The greyer and 



170 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

more indistinct the object the better, for we now 
come into a new phase of rifle shooting — sighting. 
Formerly we saw the bull plainly, black on white 
paper, no easier thing for the eyes could be de- 
vised, but now, in the woods, sights and game or 
object are all one blur of grey colour, and we can- 
not see the front sight in the notch clearly nor the 
game distinctly. And another thing now comes 
up — range. Any one can hit a vertical mark, like 
a string or an upright withe, but to hit the same 
mark held horizontally takes good holding. 

So you have two new things to learn, how much 
of your front sight to see to get the right range, 
and how to hold so as to see at all. The front 
sight wants a white or bright point on it. For an 
ordinary leaf sight this is easiest obtained by fill- 
ing a forty-five degree flat on the corner of the 
sight facing towards the rear sight. With this to 
reflect the sky light back into the shooter's eye, 
not only is the front sight clearly distinguished 
but it can be seen much later in the evening and 
earlier in the morning than any other front sight, 
a point of importance to hunters. Holding this on 
a grey or brown object the front sight appears a 
light shaft sticking up through the rear notch. 
The latter must be black, with either a flat bar and 
white line or a distinct U, so that the front sight 




THE AUTHOR AM) HIS COWBOY CHUM IN CAMP IN MONTANA 



mm j~ 




BRINGING OUT YOUR MOOSE HEAD 

Note birch bark canoe and birch calling horn. 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 171 

can be seen clearly in it without blurring. When 
sighting game, look at the game and align the 
sights at one glance, thereafter keeping them in 
mind only so far as to know that they have not 
gotten out of line while you concentrate your at- 
tention on the game. How much of your front 
sight should be cut off by the rear H at different 
ranges can only be learned with practice with your 
particular rifle at various marks until you get to 
be good at estimating distances in the woods, a de- 
ceptive thing at first. In general, set your sight 
so that the top of the front sight comes on a level 
with the top of the U when you are due to land 
fair and square on a horizontal mark at fifty yards ; 
above and below that distance draw coarse or fine 
as your experience tells you. Do not fool with 
adjustable sights and elevations. Leave those 
matters to the military, who have all the time in 
the world; when you see your game you have no 
time to monkey with sight adjustment, estimate 
your range, draw fine or coarse, and chuck it to 
him! 

So far, so good, if the beast would only stand 
still! But as a rule he doesn't, or at best for a 
very brief period. Your previous training on 
quick accurate firing has prepared you for the 
brief stop period, but often he sees you first, and 



172 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

your first glimpse of him is a grey or brown streak 
going as fast as four legs can take him ! Are you 
to sit and gape at him or wait helplessly hoping 
he will stop? Not at all, you just lead that run- 
ning animal as you would a bird in wing shooting. 
The rifle sights are held rigidly in line and the 
rifle swung on the game and ahead of it, swinging 
and following through just as in wing shooting. 
The only difference is that, as you have but one 
bullet, a much greater care must be exercised in 
holding the sights true when the rifle is being 
swung. 

The best practice for this sort of shooting is to 
make a pendulum deer, and it is great fun to shoot 
at him, too. Get a long flat strip of white pine 
moulding from the mill — fourteen feet is none too 
much. One of you climb a tree with a saw and cut 
off a branch about eighteen feet up to leave a short 
stub from which the pendulum can be swung free. 
Another boy will be cutting out of cardboard a 
miniature deer about eighteen inches long from 
hind foot to nose. Tack him to the bottom of your 
strip of pine and brace him by adding a flat strip 
like a kite brace so he will not curve or crumple 
when the wind strikes him. Tie on behind the 
deer a weight of about two pounds, an old flat file 
will do, and he is ready to hang. The boy up the 



A CHAPTER OX THE RIFLE 173 

tree now drives a wire nail through the upper end 
of the pine strip pendulum and into the stub, so 
that the deer is free to swing in great arcs of about 
eighteen feet. He will be going something like 
thirty feet a second in mid-swing, and you make 
a rule that he is to be taken in mid-swing or not 
at all. Shots at him when he is slowing up at the 
ends of his swing do not count. You can have a 
fine time with that deer, using the repeating air 
rifle described above at about 25 yards. The boy 
with the rifle takes his stand at that distance per- 
pendicular to the line of swing, while the other boy 
raises the deer up to the end of his swing. At the 
word "Go!" he releases the deer which swoops 
down and up the other side of his swing. The boy 
must fire as the deer passes in mid-swing. If he 
fails to fire it counts a miss. No firing allowed on 
the back swing, nor after the deer has made his 
fourth swing, for by that time he is only going 
about ten feet to the swing, and therefore much 
slower. It's a great game, and the rifle can be 
reloaded plenty quick enough for a shot at each 
swing. The best I ever could do with it was four 
hits out of five, and the Kid does two to three 
hits in each string of five. You have to lead him 
about two feet ahead with fast swinging rifle. As 
the speed of the air rifle bullet is about the same 



174 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

over 25 yards as the .22 long rifle is over 100, you 
would have to lead the real deer about the same at 
the latter range. 

In general, the principles of woods riflemanship 
may be summed up as follows : In aiming never 
come down from above, as that blots out a clear 
view of your game, always come up from below. 
Get the sights in line as the rifle rises, draw the 
right amount of front sight as you come up into 
your game, and, when the front bead or sight top 
is in behind the shoulder (or ahead of the shoulder 
for running game), release the trigger instantly. 
Never jerk or flinch when pulling the trigger ; al- 
ways release with both eyes open, watching the 
game all the time. By noting where your sights 
were when the rifle went off you can "call your 
shot" as military men say. It is a good habit to 
get into and always helps in improving your shoot- 
ing. Take your time on running game — he can't 
get out of sight just yet; watch for a favorable 
opening through the forest and catch him there. 
Hold low, and shoot when he is coming down in 
his bound. The commonest mistake in big game 
and furred game rifle shooting is over-shooting. 
In his anxiety to be sure to see the sights and the 
animal plainly, the rifleman sees altogether too 
much front sight, with the result that he throws 




THE PENDULUM DEER TARGET 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 175 

his bullet clear over the animal's back. All ani- 
mals are much harder to hit than they look; any 
one who cannot get in the target four ring at two 
hundred yards every time is not a good enough 
shot for big game, for your total circle of hitting 
area does not exceed 24 inches diameter. It would 
seem impossible to miss a bear as big as a cow at 
a hundred yards, but the thing is done with sur- 
prising regularity by the best of shots ; they get 
excited and hold a bit too coarse and overshoot, 
and all the rest of the bear doesn't count ! Do not 
use a rifle sling in game shooting; a strap just 
long enough to carry it over your shoulder or back 
is fine, and this strap should be adjusted so that 
when your left elbow is crooked into it the rifle 
is rigidly to shoulder. So aimed it is a .great help 
to steadying, particularly in a wind, and you can 
take aim that way nearly as quickly as with no 
strap at all. Have a canvas case, never a leather 
case, for your rifle; the leather case easily gets 
watersoaked on the trail and takes forever to dry 
out again. 

And now, what rifle shall we get for a boy of 
ten to fourteen years ' age ? I should advise : ten 
to twelve, the air rifle, a good one, not a tin toy 
gun; and twelve to fourteen, the .22 rifle, either 
single or repeater. Do not get this too cheap — 



176 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

the steel in the barrel is what counts and it cannot 
be had for nothing. A cheap rifle costing around 
$2 to $3 will have such soft, poor steel in the barrel 
that it quickly rusts inside, and the smokeless cart- 
ridges simply rot it like paper. In a few months 
the cheap rifle that shot so well at the start (hav- 
ing been forgotten maybe as to cleaning, once or 
twice) is astonishingly inaccurate — will miss a 
four-inch clay saucer at fifteen feet every time, if 
you will believe me — and no amount of cleaning 
will restore its former accuracy. You might as 
well throw it away, for an inaccurate rifle is no 
rifle at all. ' ' To thine own self be true, ' ' as Shake- 
speare says, is just as applicable to rifles as to 
boys. But, around $4, we begin to get rifles that 
are made of good steel and will shoot true, year 
in and year out, even if somewhat neglected in 
cleaning. The Winchester bolt .22, the Stevens 
Favourite, the Eemington single shot takedown, 
and the Savage, Jr., are all fine little single shot 
weapons, taking .22 shorts, longs and long rifles, 
built to last and to shoot. They all take down, 
that is, come apart at the breach so as to be easily 
packed, and all weigh about 4% pounds, and cost 
from $3.50 to $5. Then, in repeaters, we have the 
Savage bolt action at $6 and the Remington, Mar- 
lin and Winchester slide actions all costing around 




SOME .22 REPEATING RIFLES 

Top to bottom: Winchester Auto, Hopkins and Allen, Stevens, Rem- 
ington, Marlin and Savage. 




SOME .22 SINGLE SHOTS 

Top to bottom: Winchester bolt, Stevens-Maynard, 
peater, Quackenbush .21 cal. air rifle. 



Savage bolt re- 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 177 

$11, and as good and accurate small rifles as are 
made. So equipped, the boy is armed for a trap 
line in winter, when he can play with snowshoes 
and toboggan as much as he likes ; can shoot frogs 
and snakes in the spring ; practice in the summer, 
and get out into the woods in the fall after game 
when the season opens up. Even in summer he 
can make a good penny shooting woodchucks, that 
pest of the farmer's field. I have one boy friend 
who camps each year in August in a good wood- 
chuck country and all the farmers welcome him 
for they know he is a fine shot and will "lay" for 
Mr. Woodchuck until he gets him. 

Remember that all these rifles, in all their cart- 
ridges, are deadly to human life, so don't go mon- 
keying with them, but chastise any boy who gets 
careless or foolish with such a weapon. The long 
rifle cartridge will kill wolf, deer and small bear, 
and has done so time out of mind, so look where 
you shoot before you turn one of those express 
trains loose ! 

I do not believe that boys under sixteen years 
old have the endurance, courage and experience 
necessary to endure the hardihoods of the big 
game trail. It is a man's sport, and a real man 
at that, no weaklings or quitters need apply ! But, 
around sixteen years the youth longs to kill his 



178 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

first buck, and he wants to graduate from the .22 
into something heavier. One of the best all- 
around rifles is the .32-20 Winchester or Marlin, 
which takes three cartridges, the .32-20 H.V. for 
the minor big game such as deer and black bear ; 
the .32-20 black powder for large furred game, 
such as foxes, woodchucks, raccoons, etc. ; and the 
.32 S. & W. shorts for all small game, like rabbits 
and squirrels. The rifle shoots all three cart- 
ridges without readjustment, and passes the first 
two through its magazine action. An excellent 
weapon for a youth on his first war-trail. Then 
the two new Savage weapons, the .22 H.P. and 
the .250-3000 should be considered. They are not 
good for even thinly settled country, but for the 
wilderness trail are fine and light and very power- 
ful on deer, caribou, wolf, bear, etc. For moose 
and elk the .33 Winchester or Marlin is a very 
good youth's choice. It is light, 7y 2 pounds, pow- 
erful enough for moose or elk, has excellent sights, 
is inexpensive, and is much used by the North 
Woods guides and voyageurs. Probably the most 
popular deer rifle to-day is the .30-30, made by 
nearly all the arms manufacturers, a light, quick- 
handling little weapon, about twice as powerful as 
the .32-20. For small game all these rifles except 
the .33 have what is called an auxiliary cartridge, 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 179 

a steel shell of the same shape as the bulged body 
of the regular powder cartridge, and recessed to 
take some such low-power cartridge as the .32 
short. Such are somewhat of a nuisance to handle 
on the trail, but many a shot at grouse or snow- 
shoe hare is presented while hunting big game, 
and with a nearly noiseless cartridge like the .32 
S. & W., much meat for the pot can be shot, saving 
the bacon until a kill at big game is made. But, 
if you take one of these, be sure to take along an 
extractor for it, or else you may have one break 
off in the rifle chamber, putting your rifle out of 
commission for the rest of the trip, for such a shell 
is hard to get out except with the extractor ex- 
pressly made for this emergency. 

Cleaning the rifle in all calibres is the most im- 
portant duty you owe it. The .22 suffers most from 
dirt and neglect, and comes back at you by shooting 
abominably. Buy a bottle of nitro-solvent oil and a 
cleaning rod, and you will be insured against barrel 
troubles from the modern acid smokeless powders. 
Clean your rifle like a baby. You may laugh at 
the expression " trusty rifle," so overworked by 
cheap novelists, but you will not after your first 
big game trail. Your livelihood, and your life, 
many times, will hang on the trustiness of that 
same rifle, and a neglected rifle is not trustworthy. 



180 SHOOTING FOR BOYS 

A final word, in these gunpowdery chapters 
— to the mother of the boy. The Indian placed 
Courage at the top of all manly virtues. Man 
is not naturally courageous, but grows more 
so the more his self reliance is called upon. No 
hesitating, vaccilating, timid boy or man ever gets 
far in this world. Sooner or later, and generally 
sooner, he is called to account for the sin of cow- 
ardice. There is no escaping it. The slings and 
arrows of outrageous fate seek him out, and unless 
he takes arms against his sea of troubles and ends 
them they will overwhelm him. To ask or expect 
a boy, grown to manhood with all his courageous 
faculties atrophied, to cope with life's battles like 
a brave knight of old, is like asking a horse to work 
without oats. Feed him courage as you would 
heavenly manna. Send him to the school of cour- 
age ; yes — games are all right so far as they go, but 
they are not life, they are but games, and can be 
called off or stopped any time. But the great out- 
doors is not a game in that sense. The boy gets 
for the first time the experience of what it means 
to go on to the end. There's no backing out, no 
stopping that game ! it's win or lose, come through 
master, as a man ought, or come through beaten 
by the great and relentless natural conditions that 
know no pity, take back and forgive nothing, pun- 




THE KING OF AMERICAN PREDATORY GAME 

The. great Alaska Brown Bear; his track is 18 inches long. 



A CHAPTER ON THE RIFLE 181 

ish every fault to the limit. That is the true school 
of courage ; those who have been on the trail can 
tell you how their courage is exercised constantly 
until it becomes second nature. 

Woman shrinks at the idea of her boy taking ani- 
mal life; of running dangers of upset, exposure, 
falls and tumbles, insects, snakes, and being shot in 
the woods for a deer ; but life is just these things 
on a larger scale, and if your boy is to win out he 
must have courage and lots of it, so as not to quail 
when deadly sickness attacks his children, not to 
flinch when men threaten his livelihood and bully 
him of his rights, not to back down when some- 
thing important must be decided. No mere game 
can prepare him for these things as can the great 
school of the woods; therefore, be wise, and see 
that he knows how to swim, to ride and shoot, to 
sail a boat, take care of himself in the open, catch 
game fish, do all those things that our wild an- 
cestors did, as not only a preparation for the vicis- 
situdes of life but as a recreation and relaxation 
to him in later manhood, for there is no vacation 
equal to the one afforded by the great woods. 
Let your boy learn the technique of it, and, no mat- 
ter what he was when he started, I'll warrant he 
will be pretty nearly a man when he gets through ! 



PART THREE: CAMPING FOR BOYS 



PART THREE: CAMPING FOR BOYS 
CHAPTER I 

BOY CAMPS OF LONG AGO 

All boys like camping out. The utter freedom 
of it, the thrill of having all the world of nature to 
draw on for camp construction materials, of de- 
pending on one's own skill for comfort and suste- 
nance, of having new country to see and explore, 
new birds, animals and insects to see, of sleeping 
out at night in the woods, by lake or bay shore — 
Gee whizz! don't it come as near being perfection 
as any fun you ever had ! 

I well remember my first camp. I was twelve 
years old, and I and my particular chum had been 
the leading spirits in a great camping expedition 
to a wild shore three miles across the bay where 
shore birds were plentiful, clams and fish to be had 
in unlimited quantities, all the swimming you 
wanted, no clothing but a pair of bathing tights 
required, in a word, Freedom with a big F ! Well, 
on the hour appointed two great thunder squalls 

185 



186 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

arrived simultaneously out of the northwest and 
southwest with rain in bucketfuls. No one showed 
up but Chum and myself. 'Did we bemoan our 
luck and give up the camp? Not we! Not by a 
jugful ! On went our bathing trunks, in went the 
duffle into our two sailing batteaux, up went the 
jibs, there being too much wind for our mainsails, 
and off we started through the roaring storm and 
were soon lost to view in the mist and fog. 

We two boys, singing with glee in a pouring rain, 
ripping down to the South Shore under jib alone, 
all the goods and provisions under tarpaulins — 
that was the way our first camp started. That 
night Eber, my chum, sailed back after the quit- 
ters, leaving me all alone on a stormy shore, hav- 
ing landed most of our provisions. Another 
heavy sea was getting up, night was coming on and 
the world looked rather lonely and inhospitable 
for a twelve-year-old kid. But I topped up the 
main boom, cast loose the foot of the mainsail and 
bent it around the cockpit coaming for a tent, 
pulled up my grating and laid it on the oars to 
form a long bunk comprising stern sheets, grating 
and middle thwart, and — lit my lantern. In- 
stantly that cabin became a cosy little home with 
the rain pattering softly on the mainsail outside. 
The boat cushions made a comfortable bed, the 



BOY CAMPS OF LONG AGO 187 

lantern lit up the interior, I tidied up the boat and 
let her pitch and rock to the storm outside. Gee, 
it was cosy and comfortable ! 

I read a book until nearly eleven o'clock when 
the storm blew out and a black stillness like a 
great mirror spread over the bay, streaked with 
the long lanes of light coming from the electrics 
on shore three miles across the bay, and the red 
path of light that came from the lighthouse. 
After a time, came a faint screech across the 
water; then more diabolical yells, sounds of peo- 
ple being murdered and falling down wells, all the 
fiendish noises that the human throat can invent. 
It was the Crowd, coming down in Eber 's boat and 
the big sharpie. They rammed me amidships, 
full tilt when they finally arrived, nearly shaking 
the mainmast out of her, and I went ashore about 
twelve o'clock midnight to help them make camp. 
Such duffle ! Three boatloads of it at least ! In 
an hour everything was shipshape and they turned 
in. So did the mosquitoes. I went out to my boat 
to get some sleep but the rest, with no mosquito 
blind, were soon routed out of that tent, and the 
last I saw of them was a capering crowd of boys 
chasing each other about the beach in the moon- 
light at two in the morning. Unfortunately my 
boat was not out of range of rocks from shore, so 



188 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

that every now and then a bombardment would 
come aboard. 

Finally I got off to sleep and awoke to find the 
boat aground on miles of sand flats and snipe wad- 
ing about all along the shore. The rest had al- 
ready got after them, and, as for me, I did not even 
take time to dress but in bare feet and shirt tail I 
set out with gun and cartridge bag as accoutre- 
ments and in an hour that bag was full of snipe 
and empty of cartridges, and my feet were cut to 
ribbons with oyster shells sticking up like knife- 
blades through the sand. Well, we had a week of 
royal sport over at that shore. We all slept out 
in the boats, at last, to get away from the mosqui- 
toes, and the first boat awake would promptly ram 
the others. We treaded hardshell clams, each boy 
walking along the sandy bottom in water up to 
his shoulders, towing a box into which the clams 
were put after diving for them ; we had some won- 
derful clambakes in our beach fires ; we caught all 
the fish we could eat by the mere act of anchoring 
a mile off shore and baiting our hooks with a clam 
comb; we shot all the shore birds we needed for 
fresh meat ; and we only came home when starved 
out by the absolute lack of potatoes and bread. 

When I got home I could not sleep in a house at 



BOY CAMPS OF LONG AGO 189 

all; the walls and room seemed too stuffy for 
words. We had learnt a lot from that camp, prin- 
cipally that all our duffle was too heavy and bulky ; 
but the fact did not press home so much until our 
next camp which was out in the forests in late 
September of that same year. Eber and I started 
out alone, as before, but this time we did not at- 
tempt to take the other fellows' duffle; our own 
was more than plenty to stagger under. We 
brought it out four miles from town in a borrowed 
cart, and, when we had driven the horse as far in 
the old lumber roads as he would go, we packed 
the rest in to the camp site. 

Never will I forget that first woods camp. We 
jumped and capered and tore through the woods in 
sheer exuberance of spirits at being free once 
more. One week more and school would begin — 
let's make the most of it ! We both went upstream 
for maybe half a mile before turning to report on 
a suitable camp site ; and when we met again and 
described our selection it turned out that we both 
had picked the same site ! It was a low knoll half- 
way down the ravine embankment with the brook 
at the bottom and a good drainage every way from 
the tent site. Followed a strenuous half hour of 
packing in the tons of stuff, and in an hour more 



190 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

the tent was pitched. This tent was one of the 
old Nessmuk shanty tents which I made on my 
mother's sewing machine of American drilling. 
It had too flat a roof so that bags would form in 
it with rain or snow and cause leaks, and it re- 
quired several hours ' work to make the frame for 
it. However, it permitted a bright open camp fire 
in front whose cheerful rays would penetrate to 
the farthest recesses of the tent and it was the 
very first advance on the old wall tent with its 
chilly interior and bulky paraphernalia, and to us 
it was the acme of camp comfort. We hustled the 
frame along, but, before we got half through, up 
came a howling thunderstorm drenching us to the 
skin and wetting down everything inside the tent 
unless we got it quickly into the grub box which 
was put in the only spot where there was no leak. 
Then the sun came out and we took off all our 
clothes and enjoyed the naked freedom of the Eed 
Man. Blankets were dried, grub started, night 
wood piles cut and a Nessmuk fire built in front 
of the tent. To make this we drove in two slant- 
ing stakes, piled up five six-inch logs four feet 
long one above the other against the back stakes, 
and put down two short logs for andirons and a 
forestick across their front ends to form a sort of 
boundary to the fire. A pyramid of sticks, chips, 



i 




THE OLD-FASHIONED HEAVY WALL TEXT. WITH FLY 

Made of 10 oz. duck and weighing about 75 lbs. Note piles of duffle 

and heavy shoddy blankets. 







THE AUTHOR'S TENT HOME-MADE WHEN HE WAS A BOY OF TWELVE 
YEARS 

This negative is nearly thirty years old. The gun is now used by the 
avithor's son and the tent is still in existence. One of the first for 
light camps, the tent slept three and weighed ten pounds. 



BOY CAMPS OF LONG AGO 191 

i 
etc., was piled in front of the backlogs and the fire 

was ready for dusk to come. 

The cook fire was built of two parallel logs 
raised up on two short ones and staked fast, and 
over it went a dingle stick to hang pails on. Pres- 
ently our first meal of fried ham, boiled spuds, 
bread and coffee was ready and we sat down to 
eat. Our cooks were fairly proficient, that is 
Eber and I were, for we were all there was of the 
camp so far, but in the middle of the meal we heard 
a grouse drumming out in the forest and immedi- 
ately grub was forgotten and two eager hunters 
vanished into the woods. 

Followed a long period of silence, and then sud- 
denly there was a muffled roar of wings and the 
boom of Eber's gun. The noise started off a grey 
squirrel, far up in the tops of the great oaks over 
my head. He had been watching me motionless 
while I was stalking the grouse, but his move was 
fatal for he drew a quick bead and a hatful of sixes 
and tumbled to earth. Then, as silently as before, 
except for two triumphant war whoops denoting 
a successful kill, we returned to the meal. The 
grouse and squirrel were hung up with an em- 
phatic "Ugh!" of approval on both sides and the 
grub finished off. 

Our clothes and things dried off during the 



192 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

afternoon, and by the time the chill September 
night breezes fell we were clothed again and off in 
the forest for a still hunt. This form of hunting 
is wonderfully successful if done right. You find 
a big log in some great grove where one can see 
a long way in every direction, including the green 
canopy overhead. While you were walking, all 
the woods creatures had "froze" and were watch- 
ing you in silence. Now that you are still they 
soon forget you and go about their businesses. 
The tables are turned. A call in the woods off to 
your right denotes game in that direction; a mo- 
tion in the leaves overhead discloses a squirrel 
moving in the tree tops ; a faint rustle in the dead 
leaves discovers Bunny-rab hippity-hopping along, 
totally unaware of your presence. A short stalk 
in the direction of the call, a quietly raised gun, 
from your very seat itself, will often get meat and 
the Mouse-trap is again ready for business. This 
afternoon I came upon a large brook pickerel, mo- 
tionless in a pool in the brook, and how to have fish 
for breakfast immediately caused considerable 
scheming. First, I blocked up both ends of the 
pool with rocks; next I cut a broom of a young 
beech sapling, and finally, by manoeuvring the 
pickerel to the shallow end of the pool I brushed 
him out on the stones with several vigorous 



BOY CAMPS OF LONG AGO 193 

sweeps of the broom. Not that I got him the first 
trial ; but after he and I had both had considerable 
exercise and both got rather excited, he made the 
mistake of running into the broom — to his undo- 
ing! 

A little farther up the brook bed two woodcock 
jumped, and one fell to " Diana 's" sharp report. 
Back to camp, for dusk was coming on and the 
whip-poor-wills were already tuning up. An or- 
ange glow in the trees showed the big chief already 
busy over the tea pail and another squirrel hang- 
ing up on the game pole. I plucked the grouse, 
cleaned him and broiled him on a sassafras fork 
while Eber got on a pail of tea and some prunes. 
In three-quarters of an hour everything was ready 
to serve, and we touched off the big Nessmuk fire. 
Instantly we had a blaze six feet high, glorious and 
warm, and plenty of light to set our table on the 
grub box. After eating and washing up, we rested 
a while and put on the first charge of logs and 
then we went skirmishing for browse. We lopped 
the lower limbs of several hemlocks and white 
pines and towed them to camp. Then, in the 
bright firelight we stripped off their browse 
feathers until a mountain of fragrant green filled 
the rear quarters of the tent. Spreading this out 
a foot thick we pegged down a canvas tarp over it 



194 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

and then made our beds. Old Man Morpheus hov- 
ered just outside in the shadows of the forest. 
We chucked on the second set of logs, sending a 
shower of sparks up into the trees, and then rolled 
in our blankets. ... In two minutes it was morn- 
ing — such a sleep ! 

That was thirty years ago, and we boys (and the 
men, too, for that matter) had no idea of what it 
meant to go light. To do that was to rough it with 
a big E, for in those days light compact cook 
kits and light waterproof tents had not been in- 
vented. Nessmuk's book "Woodcraft" had just 
come out in print and we boys devoured it, finding 
it good and far in advance of his time. Little did 
I think then that I was to be the one who would 
write the legitimate sequel to " Woodcraft" in my 
own book " Campcraf t, ' ' but the necessity for it 
grew with our increasing knowledge of materials 
and outfit. Nessmuk was fine, with the available 
things as he knew them, and even at that he had to 
make most of his outfit himself. But most of his 
stuff has been superseded by better designs and 
materials, better tents, light aluminum or tin cook- 
ing outfits, warm light sleeping bags, etc., and the 
boys of to-day have at hand much better and 
cheaper outfits than we of thirty years ago could 
possibly make or buy; and the purpose of these 






BOY CAMPS OF LONG AGO 195 

chapters will be to show how up to date wilderness 
camping is done, how the good of the old ways has 
been kept, and the bad replaced by practical, light 
woods equipment. 



CHAPTER II 

HIKING 

I believe that it was the Boy Scouts who first 
initiated the art of hiking. "When I was a boy the 
game laws opened up much earlier than they do 
now, and all our camps were hunting and fishing 
expeditions. We went on long walks with our 
elders, to see falls, climb mountains, etc., but they 
never thought of staying out over night. Always 
a hotel or an inn was their objective point, so that 
no outfit whatever was carried. But of late, par- 
ticularly in mid-summer when the fishing is at low 
ebb and the hunting season far off, troops of boys 
under able leaders or scoutmasters, take long 
hikes, involving spending several nights out of 
doors and the preparing their own food. The 
outfits are very light, not over fifteen pounds per 
boy, and generally ten ; they do not need the stern 
outfits that we had to take, for Jack Frost is not 
around the tent at night, and the stay is short 
that no great weight of anything must be carried. 
A light single mackinaw blanket will do perfectly 

196 



HIKING 197 

to sleep in ; a cup and fry pan answer for cooking ; 
and if it rains, the party retires to the nearest barn 
for shelter. 

With us, no single blanket sufficed, unless we ex- 
pected to shiver all night or stay up and feed the 
fire ; if it rained and the woods were dripping we 
needed clothing that would let us push right on re- 
gardless ; ammunition and rifle were to be consid- 
ered in the load, and only good meals properly 
cooked would sustain us without intestinal upsets. 
Leaving this kind of camping for a future chapter, 
let us look over the essentials for a good hiking 
outfit. 

Obviously a troop of twenty boys under a leader 
cannot take along a big tent. The lightest thing 
that would house them would be a large wall tent 
weighing sixty pounds. Most hikes are made 
along country roads through picturesque country, 
with some well known bit of scenery or a good fish- 
ing lake or stream as the objective. On the latter 
it is possible to cut tent poles, but the former is 
generally in too civilised country for that. The 
troop chooses a spell of weather when it is likely to 
remain clear, and sleeps at night in some summer 
house or barn chosen in advance by the leader and 
arranged for. In a simple hike of this character, 
it is just as well to omit the tent feature altogether, 



198 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

but by providing three or four light tents, a great 
deal more freedom of movement is attained. A 
light "Dan Beard" khaki tent, costing seven dol- 
lars and weighing ten pounds will sleep four boys 
on a floor space of six by seven feet, and four of 
them distributed among the party will accommo- 
date sixteen. Perhaps as good a summer shelter 
scheme as any would be to take along several light 
1 Harps" of thin paraffined waterproof muslin. 
These weigh but 4% pounds and cover a floor 
space of 12 x 13 feet. The number of ways that 
they can be set up is legion, but a favourite is just 
two trees with a rope stretched between and the 
tarp guyed over it at one end and pegged down at 
the rear end to make an open leanto. A log or 
pole staked about two feet high at the rear will 
add to the head room at that end, and a pole set up 
in the centre to afford rainflow in every direction 
will make a big shelter of it and one where the 
party can cook and later clear the space for sleep- 
ing. Each tarp would accommodate eight boys. 
In the case of a driving rain, a windbreak of leafy 
boughs, thatched, will be ample to prevent drift 
under the edges of the tarp. 

The Indian teepee will sleep more boys than any 
other form of tent for the weight. It is best put 
up with a tripod of long poles outside giving all 




THE DAN BEARD TEXT 

Also called the "camp fire" tent; a fine model for a party of four 
boys; plenty of room to stand up in it and a 6 x 6 foot size, in brown 
shelter-clothing, can be had for $7.00. 




THE FORESTER TENT 

Designed by the author ten years ago and since extensively used A 
warm, tight tent for two; weight, 4% lbs.; cost about $6.00. 



HIKING 199 

the inside space for free room. The twelve foot 
diameter teepee, 10y 2 feet high, will weigh thirteen 
to fourteen pounds in light water proof tent tex- 
tiles, and will sleep twelve boys, lying like spokes 
of a wheel. 

In cooking food on the hike, the general plan is 
to deal out rations all around and let each indi- 
vidual boy cook his own food in the manner that 
suits him best. It is a good scheme, in that it 
takes the load of preparing food off the shoulders 
of one or two and develops the individual re- 
source of each boy, and it will work for a short 
hike. For a regular camp I should not recommend 
it, for there camp organisation is essential and the 
work must be divided among the boys that know 
their own specialty best. Not all boys are even 
indifferent cooks, and some will surely fill their 
stomachs with amateur grub that is little better 
than raw stuff, warmed, and a few days of it puts 
them on the sick list. However, most boys know 
how to broil steaks and slices of ham, can fry bacon 
and make squaw bread, so that if the rations are 
properly selected a very simple cooking outfit suf- 
fices. The Y. M. C. A. boys take along nothing but 
a fry pan, a shallow tin and a cup, which is plenty 
for a short hike. The Boy Scout outfit consists of 
a fry pan with folding handle, a stew pan, a pot 



200 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

with cover and a cup, fork and spoon, the whole go- 
ing in a khaki carrying bag with canvas shoulder 
strap and costing $1.50. In shape and weight it 
resembles the army canteen, when packed. With 
this outfit you can boil rice or mulligan in the pot, 
fry a fish or make squaw bread or flapjacks, or 
broil meat with a birch or sassafras stick on the 
side and prepare wholesome food for an indefinite 
time. For older boys who can drink tea and cof- 
fee, a still more extensive cook kit such as the 
Stopple costing $2, gives one two fry pans, a quart 
pot and two pint pots or cups depending upon how 
you use them, besides which you have a small wire 
grate which is very handy. You can get a whole 
meal in a jiffy on this outfit, but more of it later in 
the chapter devoted to camp cookery. 

For hiking rations, choose easily cooked pro- 
visions and cut out the elaborate camp cuisine re- 
quired by a long camping trip. In the latter you 
must save every ounce of weight and take along 
dry provisions, but on a short two or three day 
hike, there is no reason why brown bread, force, 
fresh fruits, fresh meat, eggs, etc., should not be 
taken or purchased en route. If the boys have but 
fry pan, mixing pan and cup (the outfit costing fif- 
teen cents complete and weighing about six 
ounces), get steaks, ham, bacon, and codfish for 



HIKING 201 

meat, potatoes, eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar, 
prunes, raisins, cheese, dried apricots, force, flap- 
jack flour, onions, salt, butter and lard, and you 
have enough to keep them all going in good health. 
Eggs, fruit, and milk can be picked up as you hike 
along. Breakfasts contemplate bacon and eggs, 
flapjacks, force and fruit. Lunches should be 
light on the stomach but sustaining, say brown 
bread, cheese, raisins and maybe a bit of smoked 
beef to avoid the necessity of fire making. The 
supper is the big meal of the day when you can deal 
out flour, baking powder, steak, potatoes, onions, 
dried fruits, etc. Each boy makes his own fire, 
makes a stew of chunks of steak, a cut-up potato, 
and a sliced onion in his stew pan, does a loaf of 
squaw bread in his fry pan, and makes a dessert of 
stewed prunes and apricots with a little sugar in 
his cup. Vary this with broiled steak and plain 
boiled potato, or a mess of creamed codfish in the 
stew pan, but be sure that they get a proper "mul- 
ligan" or stew at least once or twice on the trip, for 
nothing so soothes the digestive processes as a hot 
meaty stew before going to sleep and it does not 
take over half an hour to do. In the same way the 
breakfasts can be varied with boiled eggs, a slice of 
fried ham, or bacon and flapjacks. Details on the 
way to cook these for those who have never tried 



202 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

must wait for the proper chapter on the subject — 
we must conclude with some observations on acces- 
sory equipment. 

First of all a good belt axe. Not absolutely es- 
sential on a plain hiking trip, but, if you have tents 
along you will need pegs and poles cut, and a 
friendship fire at night can best be kept going with 
the aid of an axe even though it is easy to cook a 
meal with dry dead wood, hand broken. The best 
and cheapest axe I know of is the Collins quarter- 
axe, costing 75 cents. Good steel cannot be had 
for less. Next, a good jaekknife — the Boy Scout 
is a good one, so is the Barlow. Some boys com- 
bine the two, axe and knife in a brush knife with 
ten inch blade, costing $3, but I never was keen 
about it. A 75 cent axe and a $1 knife will do all 
that the brush knife can do and a lot more. Driv- 
ing tent pegs and camp fire stakes, for instance. 

Then you want an electric flasher. The acety- 
lene lamp is a fine thing for regular camps, but on 
a hike, each boy wants his own light when he wants 
it, to find this and that in the dark, and the party 
depends on the friendship fire for general illumina- 
tion. Pocket flashers cost from 35 cents up to $1 
and save much tribulation. Next, a waterproof 
matchbox. You can buy them from forty cents up, 
or make one with a twelve gauge brass shell with a 



HIKING 203 

cork in one end. Either kind will float if dropped 
overboard and you are always sure of a dry match. 
And, the first paper birch tree that you run across, 
strip off a thin sheet and wrap it around your 
matches for emergency tinder. Some time, when 
everything is wet and you have plenty of split wood 
but no tinder, it will come handy. 

Then you want a compass. You may get lost in 
attempting a short cut, or get left behind, and it is 
surprising how even a plain country road goes the 
wrong way when you are lost without a compass. 
And, when you come to a fork, it is invaluable in 
determining which is the right fork. 

A piece of candle, some fishing tackle, needle and 
thread wound around a bit of paper, a small sharp- 
ening stone, these and the articles mentioned above 
all go in a small leather pouch with straps on it to 
pull your belt through. If stowed in your pockets 
they will surely get lost and turn up missing when 
wanted but if kept in the " ditty bag" as woods- 
men call it, they are all there and nowhere else. 
Of course you can get along without these acces- 
sories, — borrow the other fellow's when you get 
into trouble — but — isn't it better to go well fixed in 
these essential comforts and be the lender yourself 
when some other boy needs help and the leader 
calls for volunteers 1 



CHAPTER III 

THE HUNTING AND FISHING CAMP 

While camping is great fun in itself, most boys 
like an incentive, such as good hunting or fishing to 
repay for the labour and toil of getting there and 
to give something to do during the week or so 
that one is in camp. 

It is a matter, first of all, of carfare. Few boys 
are so fortunately situated as to be near good fish- 
ing or hunting ; but there is not a city in the United 
States from which a few dollars spent on carfare 
will not get you within striking distance of some 
forest lake where there is good fishing, freedom, 
and, in the season, good hunting. 

Now, camping is cheap, infinitely cheaper than 
any scheme of boarding at a fisherman's hotel or 
camp, and, for a boy's pocketbook limitations, it is 
far better to spend the funds on carfare to some 
wild spot and then let a few dollars ' worth of grub 
and a camp c]o the rest. Two dollars a week is 
ample for one's grub expense per boy; — if not, 
sweep the cook out of camp and get a good one ! 

204 



THE HUNTING CAMP 205 

Eemains the place to go. Almost any lake or 
pond in the mountains at least six miles from the 
nearest railroad station is pretty sure to have good 
fishing and plenty of wild forest land around it, 
where a camp site can be found. In the same way, 
any big stream large enough to show a long flow 
on the map is pretty sure to have trout or bass in 
it, if it flows down through a chain of mountains. 
And, as for hunting, the mountains themselves 
solve the problem, for they are sure to be forested 
and to contain grouse, woodcock, rabbits, squirrels, 
and generally, deer and wildcat. These are the 
broad principles of picking out a place to go, 
should you not know of any place whatever. The 
sporting magazines tell of many good localities, 
both in their monthly stories and their where-to-go- 
departments so that one by writing them can get 
good up-to-date information about places. Be- 
ware however, of places that are too well known — 
they are apt to have been so famous as to be fished 
out and shot out ; I have had better luck by picking 
some unknown spot in the mountains, packing my 
kit and jumping off at the nearest railroad station ; 
seldom have I been disappointed, and usually more 
than pleasantly surprised. Every State has its 
mountain chain or bit of wild prairie lake coun- 
try, and these are the spots to head for. 



206 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

The above ought to convince you that the soul of 
comfortable camping is going light. Now, any one 
can go light, but it takes considerable experience 
and study to go light and — right! Any one can 
go light — if he has the pocketbook to buy a light, 
fine outfit — but most boys cannot afford it and 
must make or improvise nearly every article that 
they take. I always made my own things when a 
boy — do yet for that matter — and in this chapter I 
am going to tell you how to make a complete go- 
light outfit that will be warm and comfortable and 
yet none of it will cost more than the raw materials. 

To begin with you need a light, warm, sleeping 
bag, for most good fishing and all the hunting is to 
be had when the nights are cold and a single 
blanket will freeze you to death. The warmest 
and lightest thing you can make is a light, 
wool-quilt sleeping bag. At any dry goods store 
get seven yards of brown sateen; it costs sixteen 
cents a yard (or $1.12) and comes 28 inches wide. 
Cut four pieces out of it 1% yards long, or 
63 inches and taper one side 8 inches, making 
the bag 28 inches wide at the top and 20 inches 
at the bottom. Get ten wool bats of Golden Fleece 
Australian wool at 14 cents a bat, or $1.40. 
Lay down on the floor one of your pieces of 
sateen and take five bats and spread them out 



THE HUNTING CAMP 207 

flat on it in thin sheets, overlapping each sheet on 
the one above it until the whole surface of the 
sateen is covered. Put down a second sheet of 
sateen on the first with the wool batting between, 
pin around the edges and here and there in the 
middle, and get your mother to sew it all around 
on the machine and quilt it cross-wise with brown 
60 cotton thread. Do the same with the other pair 
of sateen sheets, sew the two quilts together all 
around, except two feet from the top on one side, 
turn inside out, and you have a light warm sleep- 
ing bag that will weigh 2% pounds and be warm 
down to freezing. It cost $2.52, which is less than 
a single shoddy blanket would cost and is infinitely 
warmer and lighter. 

Next, you want a tent. The ' ' Boy Scouts ' Hand- 
book" tells you how to make my Forester tent, at 
a cost of $2.34. It sleeps two boys and weighs 6 
pounds in 8 ounce duck canvas. I will tell you 
here how to make another tent which I have dubbed 
* ' The Perfect Shelter Tent. ' ' It sleeps three boys 
and weighs Zy± pounds. Now, all you want of a 
shelter tent is to keep off rain and mosquitoes. To 
have this, the roof only is of 8 ounce duck, and the 
sides and front of mosquito netting, with an extra 
side to put on with snap buttons when there is a 
driving rain. The tent when made will give a floor 



208 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

space of 6 feet 3 inches by 5 feet wide, will be 4 
feet 6 inches high at the front and 1 foot high at 
the rear. To make the roof, get 5% yards of 8 
ounce duck canvas which will cost you 99 cents. 
Waterproof it by soaking in a solution of 4 ounces 
alum to 10 ounces lime in 10 quarts water. This 
solution, when it settles clear, is to be poured off 
into a tub or pail and the tent roof soaked in it 
and hung up to dry without rinsing. Cut the 
canvas in half before waterproofing and sew to- 
gether along the blue line, making a roof 5 feet 
wide by 8 feet 3 inches long, one foot of which is to 
form the back, and the rest the slope. Get 6% 
yards mosquito netting, costing about 25 cents and 
coming 4 feet 6 inches wide. Cut in half, meas- 
ure off 1% yards for half the front, and then 
cut a diagonal from that point to a point on 
the end of the goods a foot up from the 
bottom. This piece is one side and half the 
front of the tent, and your mother is to hem it 
under the roof edge along rear foot, slope, and 
half the front. Do the same by the other side and 
finish off by getting a roll of grey tape and sew- 
ing it doubled all along the bottom and front edge 
of the mosquito cloth, so that you will have a sub- 
stantial edge to fasten peg tapes to. Finish the 
tent by putting in two % inch grommets in back 



SATEEtf <*u,t_T 
- So" 



A CAMP/Nfr OUTFIT 

"For ^oys 
W0RX>K5 DRAWINGS . 




3k!+B._SHELTER TENT FOR THREE Boys. 



THE HUNTING CAMP 209 

wall a foot up from the ground, three along back 
of tent and three along the front upper edge. 
These brass grommets can be bought at any hard- 
ware store and turned over with a nail, finishing 
with a blow of a hammer. Fasten short tapes in 
each grommet hole, and, along the bottom of the 
mosquito blind, sew tape ties about every foot and 
a half. 

So finished, it is a dandy little tent, but it needs 
an extra side to snap on in the direction of rain in 
case a driving storm comes up. Most storms in 
the woods will not bother you, but a driving 
thunder shower requires a side piece. Make it 
of white galatea, 2% yards, cut diagonally and sew 
together, the diagonal being cut across from the 
upper corner to a point one foot up from the lower 
corner. Hem and finish by sewing on snap but- 
tons every six inches. These you get at the notion 
counter in any dry goods store, 4 cents a card of 
twelve. Sew the male half of the button on the 
side of galatea, and the females along both sides of 
the roof. You will need twice as many females as 
males, for the same piece of cloth will answer for 
either side of the tent, depending upon which way 
the wind is driving. 

To put up this tent, cut two short stakes about 
two feet long and drive in where the back of the 



210 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

tent is to come. Fasten the lower tent tapes to the 
feet of these stakes and tie the upper rear tent 
tapes a foot up these same stakes. Cut two five- 
foot poles and drive them in the ground where the 
front of the tent will come, 6 feet 3 inches from the 
rear stakes and square to them. Tie bottom tapes 
of mosquito blind to the feet of these poles, tie 
upper front roof tapes to the tops of same poles, 
guy out taut with some light tent rope, and the 
job is done. Takes about fifteen minutes. Finish 
by staking down the mosquito blind sides, where 
there are tape ties and securing the front mosquito 
flap with a large flat stone which holds the edges 
close together yet permits going in or out by 
simply lifting the stone. When you turn in for 
the night, take the stone in with you and secure by 
pinning fast the front inside with the stone. Koll 
out the three sleeping bags in a row, make a pillow 
of your spare clothes, and turn in. It will be the 
healthiest sleep you ever had ! 

The third important article of a camping outfit 
is the cook kit. As I said in our last chapter there 
are a number of light dandy ones to be bought for 
from $1.50 to $2 — but suppos'n' you haven't got 
the coin! Well, that's nothing to worry about! 
Go down to the five and ten cent store and look 
over the aluminum counter. Two bowls and two 



THE HUNTING CAMP 211 

fry pans will be all you need in that metal (and it 
may be well to put in here that the reason that 
aluminum is so prized by campers is not only be- 
cause of its lightness but because it has three times 
the conductivity of iron and so will not scorch and 
burn things anywhere near so easily). These will 
cost forty cents, and to go with them you want a 
ten cent enamelled ware cup, a four cent shallow 
mixing tin about seven inches across, and three 2 
cent 7 inch pie plates for covers for your pots and 
for eating plates. That is all you really need, to 
bake, fry and boil all you want to in the woods. 
Add to it sometime later a fifty cent canvas water 
bucket from the sporting goods store to put all 
your things in, and you have a dandy little cook 
kit that will weigh not over two pounds and cost 
about a dollar. To make your fry pans stowable, 
cut off the handles with a hack saw about an inch 
from the side, drill a hole through both stub and 
cut-off handle, get a short bolt with wing nut at the 
hardware store and you have a way to put the 
handle back on again whenever you want it. 
Aluminum, being such a very good conductor of 
heat, makes the handle of a fry pan a sizzling hot 
affair, so that a stick of wood lashed to it in camp 
will save many blisters. Also, buy a pair of ten 
cent brown cotton cooking gloves. They are fine 



212 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

in the woods, not only for cooking but to wear 
when paddling or when the mosquitoes are bad; 
and get a new pair every camp. 

You have now the essentials for a real hunting 
or fishing camp. The accessories,- described in a 
former chapter, will comprise a 75 cent belt axe, 
a knife, compass, electric flasher, candle, and ditty 
bag to hold them. To carry food, send to some big 
sporting goods store for a yard of paraffined 
muslin, costing 20 cents, and have your mother 
make up from it as many 4x9 inch and 3x6 inch 
bags as there is material. Simply fold flat and 
seam three sides and then turn inside out. If you 
have a rubber stamp set (and most boys do !) mark 
the 4x9's, flour, pancakes, rice, and sugar; and 
mark the 3x6's, coffee, cornmeal, tea, codfish, 
salt, cocoa, raisins, and cheese. Save all the used 
sugar bags that the kitchen gets for to stow po- 
tatoes, onions, prunes and apricots in, and save all 
the old baking powder tins for stowage of pork, 
bacon, butter and baking powder. Milk comes in 
its own can — the smallest tin of evaporated cream. 
Punch with two nail holes when you get into camp 
and plug up with small toothpicks. Eleven pounds 
of provisions ought to be enough to last two boys 
five days in any kind of fish and game country. 
For the essential egg, take either egg powder 



THE HUNTING CAMP 213 

bought from the sporting goods stores or take 
along your eggs packed in the flour in a large fric- 
tion top tin, or else broken into a small friction top 
3 inch diameter by 5 inch can, which will hold four- 
teen. 

With this outfit, when the frosty weather comes 
on and the fish begin to bite again and the game 
laws go off, you can pick out a chum or two and 
take this outfit into the mountains five to eight 
miles from the nearest railroad station with no 
fear of freezing at night or running short of good 
wholesome food. Fill the bags with a pound each 
of the larger commodities and assemble all the 
dingbats in one pile in your room. Spread out the 
tent with its mosquito blind folded inboard; fold 
up your sleeping bag into a flat parcel in the centre 
of the tent. Pile the other goods neatly on it. 
Then fold the tent over them like a big sheet of 
wrapping paper, first, however, laying your tump 
strap across the centre of the pile and then rolling 
the pack around it. The ends of the tent are 
tucked over, leading out the tump strap ahead of 
the folds, and next the whole bundle is secured 
with the tent rope of which you will want about ten 
feet of % inch braided. Now adjust the tump 
straps to the forehead band so that the pack rides 
easily a little below your shoulders. The pack 



214 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

should not weigh over twenty pounds all told, and 
you can tump it ^ve or ten miles through forest 
trails and old lumber roads with ease. 

The regular Indian tump line has the broad 
central strap about 18 inches long and two long 
thongs about 8 feet each. These are laid side by 
side on the tent or pack cloth, about a foot or more 
inside the cloth so as to cross the two ends of your 
pile of duffle. The cloth is then folded in over the 
tump lines and the pile of duffle made up. Draw- 
ing in on the tump lines puckers up each end of 
the pack cloth over the pile and the outside ends 
of the tump line are then crossed and tied around 
the pack. 

A word about how to make this tump strap. 
Get a nice piece of soft leather from your shoe- 
maker, iy 2 inches wide by 18 inches long. Buy 
two one-inch buckles at the hardware store; neck 
down the ends of your leather band so as to se- 
cure on the buckles with a tongue hole and a rivet. 
Buy an inch strap a yard long for 25 cents, cut off 
the buckle and punch six holes in that end. It al- 
ready has a set of holes in the other end and it 
then forms your tump strap, which you pass 
through your pack and adjust to the right length 
by the buckles on your forehead band. Or, substi- 
tute for this short strap through your pack two 




THE AUTHORS "PERFECT SHELTER TENT 

This is the tent described in this chapter; sleeps three, weighs 3 lbs.; 
easily put up, with two long peg's and two short poles, in less than 
ten minutes. A fine tent for a boy's hunting or fishing trip. 



--'W. 




OFF FOR A WEEK'S CAMP 

The author with his children and a friend. All tents, sleeping bags, 
cook kits and provisions for a week's camp are in the various packs 
carried by the party. 



. THE HUNTING CAMP 215 

long 8-foot thongs of rawhide or braided rope and 
make up the pack Indian fashion as described 
above. It is the easiest way to carry a pack, once 
your neck gets used to the unaccustomed strain, 
or, if you are naturally thin-necked and prefer 
shoulder straps, you can make up a shoulder strap 
harness out of five cent school book straps and 
two large leather bands. 

The point of this entire outfit is that it is light 
and cheap, and no part of it is useless weight in 
camp. If the tent is dyed brown with Diamond 
Dye or the whole parcel wrapped in your rain 
coat or poncho it will make a more presentable 
package for the train and railroad station. 

Next, get your tickets (some early morning 
train, so as not to get there too late in the eve- 
ning) ; get off at the little jumping-off station, and 
melt into the forest for a week's good sport ! 



CHAPTER IV 

CAMP COOKERY 

While with a big hike, consisting of twenty boys 
and their leaders, the accepted plan is for each boy 
to cook his own rations as dealt out ; on a hunting 
and fishing camp for three or four boys it is much 
the best organisation to elect the boy best fitted 
for the job as cook, with the next best as assistant 
cook. The other two attend to firewood and water, 
cleaning up the camp, airing the blankets morn- 
ings and washing the dishes after the meal is over. 
The cook and his assistant set the table, prepare 
the food, cook it, and help eat it, after which their 
work is done and the others take hold. The cook 
and his assistant should not be required to get fire- 
wood or water, both should be at hand in generous 
quantities, for no meal can be well done with insuf- 
ficient fuel, nor can the cook leave his job for a 
single instant to rustle firewood or water. The 
other two attend to all this, also the night fire and 
the browse for bedding. It makes an equal divi- 
sion of work, and some boys are temperamentally 

216 



CAMP COOKERY 217 

better fitted for axemanship and such muscular 
jobs while others have in them the making of a first 
class chemist, which is what a good cook is in es- 
sence. 

Here is a good grub list for three boys for one 
week: 2 pounds bacon, 2 pounds pork, 2 pounds 
rice, 5 pounds sugar, 1 pound raisins, 1 box choco- 
late or cocoa, 1 pound butter, % pound coffee, 3 
cans evaporated cream (small size), 2 dozen beef 
capsules, 4 pounds flour, 1 pound cornmeal, 2 
pounds pancake flour, 2 pounds prunes, 2 pounds 
apricots, 2 pounds peaches dried, 1 pound cheese, 
% pound baking powder, y 2 pound salt, 2 pounds 
side of codfish, 1 quart white onions, 1 quart 
potatoes, % pound tea, % pound lard, 1 dozen 
eggs, 1 dozen beef capsules, total, 30 pounds 
or ten pounds to each boy. This list supposes 
that you are going to catch fish and shoot game 
for meat or go hungry, that is not starve, but 
have to live on bacon and codfish eked out 
with stews in which the meat element is fur- 
nished by the beef capsules. These things will 
all come from the grocer's in a great box, and 
most of them have paper packages or boxes that 
add considerably to their weight. First of all 
transfer everything to all the food bags you can 
muster; use the paraffined bags for the flours, 



218 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

sugar, coffee, etc., which water can hurt, and 
stow the vegetables, dried fruits and the like in 
your muslin bags. Put the pork, butter, etc., in 
cans and stow the eggs in a large can with part of 
your flour around them. Another way is to get a 
friction top can about five inches high by three 
inches in diameter and break all the eggs into it. 
Such a can will hold fourteen eggs and most of 
the yolks will stay whole even after six or seven 
miles of hike. 

The night before the expedition, the clan gets to- 
gether and makes up the packs, distributing the 
provisions according to the carrying capacity of 
each boy. One takes the tent, the other the cook 
kit and the third an equivalent amount of pro- 
visions over and above the third portion. No pack 
should then go over twenty-two pounds. My own 
son, who is 11 years old and a husky brute at that, 
carries a twenty pound pack over the mountain 
trails all day without any great effort. 

Starting out from the jumping-off place, the first 
thing to do is to quit fighting your pack. It is a 
burden, but if there are no sharp corners nor can 
edges in it, just get used to it and you will soon 
forget that it is there. There is no use fussing 
and fidgetting with it, that will tire you out in no 
time and do no good whatever. Once well on the 



CAMP COOKERY 219 

trail there will be so much to see and do that there 
will be no thoughts left to expend on your pack. 
Try to follow old lumber roads and trails in your 
route through the forest; breaking through 
straight brush is exhausting and slow even with- 
out a pack, while with it it is mighty hard. 

Your objective is a little forest lake where there 
are bass, and wild ducks, with plenty of partridges 
in the woods, and it is four miles off through the 
woods and over a mountain or two from the rail- 
road station. You hike along, the leading boy with 
ready shotgun and (while on the subject of fire- 
arms, take but one gun each, no extra rifles or 
pistols allowed, make one gun do for all game 
chances, which a shotgun will). 

These old lumber trails are fair places for 
grouse— and we are on the lookout for supper! 
After about two hours hiking, walking twenty-five 
minutes and resting iive in each half hour, we make 
out the white shimmer of the lake under the forest 
trees, downhill. We pitch down through the brush 
regardless, for we must reach the bank quickly so 
as to skirt it on the lookout for a spring and a 
camp site. Choose a spot out on a point if pos- 
sible, for there is more breeze in such places and 
fewer mosquitoes. Now the packs are opened and 
all provisions turned over to the cooks while the 



220 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

third boy gets stakes and poles for the tent. It is 
unrolled and put up by him and the assistant cook, 
while Cookie assembles the war bags, puts up a 
pole to hang them over in pairs, makes a stone 
shelf for his pots, pans and cans and clears a cook 
fire site some twenty feet to leeward of the tent. 
Assistant Cook is sent to the spring with the can- 
vas bucket for fresh water, while the tent man 
brings in a quantity of firewood for the cook fire 
and piles it near the cook fire site. Then he goes 
after browse and the clearing away of roots and 
stubs from the tent floor, while Cookie looks over 
his layout. 

Let's see; we had no luck at partridges on the 
way in, for Bony missed the only grouse that got 
up. That 's what we brought along that steak for, 
to tide over the first gap before guns and rods get 
in their fine work. It is five o'clock and the sun 
is going down. Assistant cook cuts a springy sap- 
ling about ten feet long and this they drive down 
slantindiginally into the ground with a couple of 
low forks to hold it up and the long end of it 
sticking out over the cook fire site. This is called 
the "dingle stick' ' in the North and a good cook 
fire pot pole it makes, too! Assistant cook next 
cuts a couple of pot hangers out of maple bush; 
just a twig with a stub sticking out at its upper 



CAMP COOKERY 221 

end and a notch cut with a jackknife at the lower 
end to take the bale of a kettle. Assuming that 
Cookie has with him the cook kit described in our 
last chapter, he takes the two aluminum pots and 
starts a "mulligan" in one of them while rice is 
doing in the other. Eice swells enormously when 
cooking and is sure to burn unless it has plenty of 
water. Three small grabs out of the warbag are 
plenty and the pot is filled nearly full of water, a 
pinch of salt added, and the rice stirred in when it 
is boiling furiously. In half an hour it will be 
done, when the rice water is poured off for soup 
stock or added to the mulligan, and the rice 
steamed a few minutes over the fire before serving. 
Cookie hangs this over the cook fire which assist- 
ant cook has started under the dingle stick, and 
next fills the other pot, puts in some salt, chops up 
half a pound of the steak into cubes, slices in two 
onions, and cubes in three smallish potatoes which 
assistant cook has been paring. This goes on the 
dingle stick ahead of the rice and the fire is or- 
ganised between two short logs so that the rice 
gets the bulk of the fire after the first big blaze has 
burnt down. Tin covers ought to go on both pots, 
not only because they will come to a boil quickly 
that way but will keep boiling even if the coals are 
low. 



222 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

Cookie now starts his cornbread batter. One 
cup flour, one-half cup cornmeal, half teaspoonful 
salt, one tablespoonful sugar, two teaspoonfuls 
baking powder, mix all together in mixing pan. 
Add one egg and some milk water from evaporated 
"cow" can, and finally a teaspoonful of melted 
butter. Stir all together. Assistant cook has 
been greasing one fry pan meanwhile, and now you 
pour the batter out into it. It should be just thick 
enough to pour slowly with the help of a spoon; 
if too thin the cake will not come up. Over the fire 
with it, out on the ends of the logs with a bed of 
coals raked under. The second fry pan is put 
over it and a lot of brands stolen from the fire 
heaped up on it and blown to a separate fire. 
Watch that cake carefully for it is easy to burn it. 
Keep the coals under it free from flame and lift 
off the upper pan occasionally to see how it is get- 
ting on. The upper fire seldom burns it, and can 
be kept going merrily. 

Assistant cook meanwhile has cleaned out the 
mixing pan and you fill it with mixed prunes, apri- 
cots, and peaches ; add two tablespoonf uls of sugar 
and a little water and set it to simmering some- 
where on the back of the fire. Meanwhile see that 
the two pots are boiling steadily and stir them 
occasionally. By the time the cake is done and 




THE BOY SCOUT COOK KIT 

As furnished by the N. Y. Sporting Goods Co 

cover, mixing pan, plate, cup, knife 

tins and paper containers 

boy kit 



Fry pan, stew pan with 

fork and two spoons. Also note 

with tin top, for small provisions. A one- 




THE STOPPLE COOK KIT 

Two steel fry pans, which also make a fine bake oven, a quart pail, 
two large pint cups and wire grate; weight, 2 lbs. Whole kit goes in 
long pail and will fit in your pocket. There is room for forks, spoons, 
etc., besides the grate and all the detachable handles, inside the fry 
pan. A two-boy kit. 




THE FORESTER COOK KIT 

Two gallon aluminum pots, one 3-qt. pail, 2 mixing 
baking pans, 3 cover plates, aluminum 9-inch plate, 
for four boys, each bringing along his own table set. 



pans, fry pan, 3 
and cup. A kit 



CAMP COOKERY 223 

set aside, it is time to set table and call the third 
boy off his browse job. The Big Ceremony now 
takes place — tasting the mulligan ! A spoonful of 
it is scooped out and blown cool, while cookie and 
assistant cook each take a solemn sip. Judgment 
is pronounced, and the same is done to the rice. If 
"Can't be beat!" pour out rice water and extra 
mulligan water into a container and add three beef 
capsules for soup. In a few minutes you announce 
soup and cornbread, set out the butter, serve the 
rice and mulligan on the plates and set water to 
boil in both pots again, one to use for washing 
water and the other to draw tea as soon as it comes 
to a boil. 

By the time the soup is down, the rice and mulli- 
gan have cooled enough to "go at with a long 
pole," and the tea water has come to a boil. Add 
three pinches of tea, set aside four minutes to 
steep and clean the cups for tea. It is ready to 
pour in four minutes. Add evaporated "cow" to 
taste, pass around the sugar bag and "hop to it." 
After it and the rice and mulligan have disap- 
peared, bring on the fruit stew, by the end of 
which every one is full to the brim and that camp 
will sleep like a major! The sun has set, and if 
Third Boy has been busy the Camp Fire is ready 
to touch off. Cookie and assistant cook attend to 



224 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

this duty while all hands wash up. Then there is 
casting for bass by night, f rogging, browse picking 
and sleeping bags to look to before turning in. 
Cookie ties all the food bags in pairs and hangs 
them over his pole, sees that all cans are closed 
and all covers on, throws a tarp over the outfit and 
is then sure that rain, squirrels, porcupines and 
such small marauders will not steal any food dur- 
ing the night. 

The remains of the firewood are put on the camp 
fire and all hands turn in for an early start next 
morning, for daybreak is the time to hunt and fish. 
Never chop wood at night ; it is as much as your 
life is worth. 

Next morning Cookie is up betimes; do not let 
the crowd get out without a substantial meal. 
Pot No. One boils coffee ; one grab of grounds to 
each boy, let boil iive minutes and then simmer un- 
til wanted. Get out the bacon can and fry two 
slices for each boy. They should go over a hot 
fire and be taken out and put in a covered container 
as soon as they show translucent on both sides. 
Do not overdo or they will be just dry chips. If 
fish were caught the night before, have assistant 
chef cleaning them while this is going on. With 
the bacon fat still red hot put in two fish side by 
side, head to tail in one fry pan, first pouring off 



CAMP COOKERY 225 

a little bacon fat in a cup for pancakes, and mak- 
ing up with a hunk of lard out of the lard can. 
Never put fish in cold fat. 

Put a tin cover over the fish and keep assistant 
cook maintaining a small even fire under them. 
Meanwhile get out the mixing pan and the pancake 
flour, add enough milk water to make a batter that 
will just pour off the spoon and you are ready for 
flapjacks. Pour all your bacon grease in the cup 
into the second fry pan, let get sputtering hot over 
the fire, pour all back that will drip and then pour 
on enough batter to fill the bottom of the pan. 
Hold over hot fire, raising the edges occasionally 
with your hunting knife and giving a shake to keep 
from sticking to pan. Then — one, two, THREE ! 
and over she goes ! Most boys are afraid to flop 
high enough, with the result that the cake lands on 
the side of the pan, not having a chance to make a 
complete flip. However, six of these are enough ; 
have on some peaches stewing in the second pot 
and serve breakfast; coffee, bacon, fish, flapjacks 
and fruit. Oatmeal is too mussy about camp; 
corn mush is better, but the above is plenty grub 
enough. 

The whole party goes out hunting and fishing 
forthwith, letting dishes and bedding to take care 
of itself. There will be plenty of time later when 



226 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

the sun is up high, around eleven o'clock. Along 
about eleven they all straggle in, hungry, of course. 
For a midday lunch, chocolate, cheese, raisins and 
broiled birds are ample. Put on one pot to boil, 
stir up a teaspoonful of chocolate to each boy in a 
cup with cold water, stir into the boiling water, 
add milk and sugar to taste, and let boil for twenty 
minutes. Two grouse are enough for the whole 
outfit. Clean and broil before fire on sassafras 
fork with a strip of bacon skewered to the bird in- 
side. His own fat will do outside. For bread- 
stuff you will want biscuits or squaw bread. They 
are both made of the same ingredients. One cup 
of flour, one-half teaspoonful salt, one heaping 
teaspoonful baking powder, one lump of lard or 
butter as big as your thumb. Work latter thor- 
oughly into flour with hands, add milk water little 
by little stirring the dough with a spoon (never 
with the hands for they are too warm) until the 
whole mass is a lively lump of biscuit dough. 
Press or roll out flat on a plate, tip into fry pan 
and set over fire. To make biscuits, cut up with 
the baking powder can top and set in floured fry 
pan, putting the other over it and building a fire 
of brands on top; to make squaw bread, put in 
floured fry pan, hold over fire a few minutes until 
the bottom has a firm crust and the cake has begun 



CAMP COOKERY 227 

to rise, then tip up fry pan with a stick through 
hole in its handle, build up a high-flaming quick 
fire in front and watch her rise and brown on top ! 
This meal brings the cook around to supper 
again. For variations serve creamed codfish, 
made by boiling shredded up pieces off the steak 
in three waters to get out the salt, pour off third 
water and add a thumb of butter, some "cow" and 
a pinch of flour, stir thoroughly while cooking and 
serve hot. Always welcome, in a meat and fish 
diet. Never omit the mulligan, making it some- 
times of bird or rabbit chunks, other times with the 
beef capsules alone, always having the onion and 
potato present for that is what they were brought 
along for. For variation in fruit, try "speckled 
pup," which is just raisins cooked in rice ; also oc- 
casionally serve the prunes "as is," the idea being 
to cut down the midday cooking as much as pos- 
sible. In fact, to do good hunting you ought to 
range far and wide and take along a midday lunch 
in your pocket, cooking enough extra to provide 
for it at either breakfast or supper. Woods lore 
allows but two meals a day, indeed the Indians hold 
that no man can remain sound and healthy in mind 
and body and eat three times each sun. Once in a 
while serve eggs and bacon for breakfast, first mak- 
ing sure that you have eggs enough for cornmeal. 



228 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

In a week's camp a dozen eggs will give enough for 
one go of bacon and eggs and the rest will be saved 
for corn bread. About the third day out you will 
not want but two meals a day, and begin to see that 
the Indian was right, for his country and mode of 
life. 



CHAPTER V 

ALL. ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TENTS 

Why is it that when you pick up any sporting 
goods catalogue, you find more than a dozen differ- 
ent kinds of tents? Why isn't the army wall tent 
the best if the Army uses it, and why, then, all 
these other kinds? This question strikes every 
boy's mind as he glances through pages and pages 
of tents in all sizes and weights and kinds — why 
not one army tent of a variety of sizes and weights 
and let the rest go ? The question gets more acute 
still when he starts in to buy one, for of course he 
wants the best tent for his money, and he can 
afford but one. 

For a boy the answer depends upon the country 
he lives in, and a knowledge of just why each kind 
of tent was invented or developed will help him 
more in deciding than any other information he 
could have. I myself have invented no less than 
three different kinds of tents, the first of which, 
the Forester, has become famous, and is to be 
found in every sporting goods catalogue put out 
by the large outfitters. Yet I own three others 

229 



230 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

and use them all at one time or another. That is 
because I range so far and camp in so many dif- 
ferent parts of our big country. For, the same 
tent that is ideal in the Eastern woods is not just 
the best for a canoe trip down some Canadian 
river, nor yet for a pack-and- saddle trip in the 
Eockies, nor yet in the deserts and mesas of the 
Southwest, nor yet again in the sand dunes of the 
Atlantic seaboard. True, any tent not too large or 
heavy will answer in all these countries, and there 
are a few models which nearly fit them all, but 
there is no one best bet that will beat all the rest 
for all of these countries. 

For boys the first consideration is lightness. If 
you make it yourself of department store duck, the 
cloth will weigh about half a pound to the yard, so 
that a very few yards will run into a lot of weight. 
If you send to a large outfitting store and buy one 
of their patent waterproof tent cloths you will have 
to pay considerable for it, some forty cents a 
yard, so again the fewer yards the better. Again 
a tent is an indivisible load, so that for a large 
party of boys, one big enough to house them all is 
going to make a big burden for some one, and it is 
better to take along two or three small tents, each 
sheltering three or four boys, and no tent weigh- 
ing over eight pounds. 



THE DIFFERENT TENTS 231 

To begin with the wall and A-tents : These are 
of the closed tent type, that is, even with a fire in 
front their walls are at such an angle to the fire 
that they reflect no heat inside, and the tents are 
damp and cold in wet moist woods, near river 
banks, etc. For sand camping where no moisture 
exudes from the soil at night, and for mountain 
work where a dry site can be found with no deep 
forest duff underneath, they make a good type, 
because on both seashore and mountain the wind 
is forever blowing strongly and you must keep it 
out or get chilled down. For snow work it is also 
very good, particularly if there is room at one end 
for a light sheetiron tent stove which can be 
slipped over your cook kit. Many is the night I 
have slept in one, with the blizzard roaring out- 
side and the snow settling in tons on the roof, 
while inside all was cheerfulness and warmth as 
the little tent stove gave out a ruddy glow and the 
carbide lamps lit up the interior. Many's the 
night I have slept in them to the rumbling accom- 
paniment of the surf, while the wind whistled and 
howled across the sandy beach and the hum of 
mosquitoes pitched a high keynote just outside the 
gauze door front ! 

The Snow tent, is a modern modification of the 
wall tent which cuts off superfluous canvas and 



232 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

provides a reflecting rear wall. It is, so far as I 
know, the invention of David T. Abercrombie the 
well-known outfitter. If you shear off the rear 
roof of a wall tent from a point on the ridge about 
two feet back from the front peak down to the back 
wall, and replace this canvas with a flat triangle of 
canvas you will have saved a lot of roof cloth and 
improved the tent both in weight and in heat-re- 
flecting properties, and you have made a Snow 
Tent of it. For all small sizes, sleeping three or 
four boys, it can do everything the wall tent can, 
is lighter and warmer. You do not need any 
height at the back of a small tent, that is where 
your head goes when sleeping, and you use the 
front for standing-up room. 

Another closed tent, very popular in the West, 
is the Spike or Miner 's tent. It is a small pyramid 
of canvas, with very sharp slant; only needs one 
pole inside to put up, stands any amount of wind, 
and where a dry site can be found is a light good 
tent for three or four boys. Its only standing 
room is, however, under the peak so that it is a 
trifle crowded for more than one at a time to dress 
in. 

But, in the Eastern and Northern woods, where 
the forest damp is sure to arise like a mist at night 
from the soil, you want an open tent with a camp 



THE DIFFERENT TENTS 233 

fire in front. A closed tent gets damp, and every- 
thing in it wilts from the mere exudation of mist 
from the layers and layers of mouldy wet leaves 
under the very floor of the tent, and if you take a 
ground cloth to keep this down, you have at once 
added materially to the weight to be carried. And 
so we get the Baker and leanto tents, so much used 
in the North Woods and Canada. For four boys, 
or three, they are about right. Put up with a rope 
stretched between two trees, or a pole nailed across 
two trees and the upper rear corners guyed out to 
pegs, you build a fine backlog fire in front, com- 
pletely drying out the duff underneath and warm- 
ing everything and everybody in the tent. The 
roof reflects the heat rays down on the floor of 
the tent, and so long as an ember yet glows its rays 
will continue to reflect down from the tent roof 
upon the sleeping boys below. A small rain flap 
or verandah guyed out in front keeps out driving 
rain and yet does not require the fire to be too far 
away. Altogether this tent is one of the best for 
woods camping for a party of three or four boys. 
In the larger sizes it loses a good many of its de- 
sirable qualities and requires too large a fire for 
the energies of a parcel of boys. It must not be 
over seven feet deep, for the heat intensity of the 
campfire varies as the square of the distance, and 



234 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

even nine feet of depth will give you only 4 %i of 
the heat of the seven foot shanty tent. The Per- 
fect Shelter Tent, described in Chapter II, is one 
of the best modifications of the shanty tent. 

Coming next to my Forester Tent, we have one 
ideal for two boys. It is notably the warmest tent 
made, for all its angles reflect fire heat; it has a 
big floor space for its weight, a triangle 8 feet in a 
side for 4% pounds weight, and two of them make 
not only an excellent camp for four boys with the 
same camp-fire heating both tents, but a pole can 
be put between the two and a "tarp" stretched 
over it, pegging down along the bottom and mak- 
ing a long lodge of the two tents and tarp that will 
accommodate eight boys on about 10 pounds of 
weight. It is hard to describe the appearance of 
the Forester tent in words, the illustrations tell 
something of how it looks, and the patterns and 
directions for making it may be found in the "Boy 
Scouts' Handbook." It must have the hood fea- 
ture in front to keep out driving rains and yet let 
in the fire heat. 

The Forester requires three poles to set up. 
They are easy to find in almost any thicket, but in 
canoe trips where one picks out a site as the sun is 
setting and gets right at the cooking of the eve- 
ning meal, the tent should be the simplest possible 




AX ENCAMPMENT OF THE CAMP FIRE CLUB 
The tent in the foreground is a canoe tent. 




THE WESTERN MINERS TENT 

An excellent model in windy, mountainous countries. 



THE DIFFERENT TENTS 235 

thing to erect. To this end we get two types of 
canoe tent, the Hudson's Bay and the Canoe types. 
Both are erected with a rope to which the ridge is 
tied, or the Canoe type when made without ridge 
needs but a single short pole which may even be 
one of the canoe paddles. If no trees are avail- 
able on the stream bank, cut two shears or short 
poles, straight or crooked, and run the ridge rope 
over them ; pegging down to ground. Rope is al- 
ways available on a canoe cruise, for you must 
have one for a tow rope, and most river points 
that are free from mosquitoes are windy, and so 
the Indians and trappers of the North devised the 
Hudson's Bay tent. It is an A tent with rounded 
ends. The ends are not only to give more room — 
they do, lots of it, where it is most needed to pile 
your duffle in while the sleeping bags, side by side, 
take up the main floor of the tent — but, further 
than this, these rounded ends give an end strain 
to both ends of the tent so that it cannot tumble 
over once the ridge is up, even if you only use a 
club and a pair of shears instead of a rope. Such 
a tent will stand a blizzard, a gale, a thunder squall 
with equal ease and, with the flaps thrown back and 
a fire out in front, will warm up after a fashion 
from the fire heat while you are preparing the 
evening meal. A modification of this tent which I 



286 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

published in Field and Stream two years ago and 
dubbed the "Blizzard Tent" is, in effect, a Hud- 
son's Bay with triangle ends instead of the 
rounded ones, and, for small sizes, such as 6 x 5 
feet main floor space with three foot triangular 
ends, a single peg at the peak of each triangle or 
eight in all suffice whereas the regular Hudson's 
Bay requires from 12 to 22 pegs. 

The Canoe Tent retains the rounded front of 
the Hudson's Bay, but is considerably altered at 
the rear. It is meant to do away with the crowded 
interior space of the latter tent and will sleep 
three or four comfortably. To get this room the 
rear wall is made from iy% to 2 feet high and 7 
to 8% feet wide and held up by long stakes to 
which the upper edge of the wall is tied, while 
the bottom uses the same stakes as ground ties. 
From this wall the sides of the tent stretch out to 
the peak and front pegs in flat triangles so that 
there is plenty of sleeping room and reason- 
able space near the front pole to stand up and 
dress. 

A final tent, and one that every boy should 
know well, is the Indian teepee. They are not 
hard to make, and, for a permanent camp or one 
where quite a party of boys, say eight or ten, ex- 
pect to reach the site by team or boat, they make 



THE DIFFERENT TENTS 237 

a great tent. The two big difficulties with a teepee 
are rinding enough straight poles for it, and keep- 
ing mosquitoes out of it in summer. Most camp- 
er's tents provide for protection against two 
things, rain and mosquitoes. If they do not do 
that they are not tents at all, no matter whether 
compact or light, or handy to stand up in or have 
any other feature of excellence. But, for a crowd 
of boys who like to do things Indian fashion, to 
emulate all the finer qualities that ennobled the 
Red Man at his best, a teepee is the starting point 
for all the club activities. To make one covering 
a ten foot circle and sleeping eight to ten boys, 
get 26 yards of 8 ounce duck canvas and sew up 
to form a rectangle 21 feet by 10 feet. Cut out a 
semicircle of 10 feet radius out of this canvas and 
make the smoke flaps, door, etc., out of what is left 
over. The smoke flaps are 5 feet on the outer 
edge and four on the edge sewed to the body of the 
teepee, the upper edge of the flaps 2 feet long and 
the lower edge 1 foot. A strip 8 inches wide 
should be gotten out of the left-over canvas and 
sewed to the upper side of one edge of the teepee 
so as to form a flap with the lacing peg holes. Cut 
out a semicircle with 1 foot radius from the upper 
peak of the teepee, hem all around and work in 
eyelets enough for twelve pegs, and the teepee is 



238 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

ready for dyeing and waterproofing. Use the 
lime-alum solution described in Chap. II and dye 
red, yellow, or brown to taste. An ornamental 
border is next painted along the bottom of the 
teepee cloth and the totems of the band put on. 
The main border is reserved for decorations 
commemorating the various camps of the tribe. 
Such a teepee will weigh 14 pounds and cost $5 for 
materials. Once in possession of it your tribe can 
make stick beds, a teepee flap for the door, a 
hood to go over the pole top, stick back rests, 
ornamental birch teepee pegs and lacing pegs, 
and decorate the interior with skins and rugs 
and be as Indian as you wish. It is a very prac- 
tical tent for cold weather camping; for sum- 
mer it had better be pitched where the mosquitoes 
are not too thick, or some of them will find their 
way in via the top. However, with a fire going 
inside, even if only a small smudge, this mode of 
entrance is not likely to be patronised. I have 
had great times inside of many teepees, some of 
them real Indian ones. With the teepee fire go- 
ing one can cook, and hold council, and do all 
kinds of woodcraft work, tell stories and gen- 
erally live in the forest much more comfortably 
than with any form of white man's tent, most of 
which are merely sleeping spaces, whereas the In- 



THE DIFFERENT TENTS 239 

dian's lodge is his home. Here he is out of the 
wind and dew and cold and insects, here he can 
throw off the outer garments of the trail and be 
at ease, here he can work and live and prepare 
food in peace, and most boys who have tried the 
teepee, are agreed that it is the greatest of tents 
— once they have learnt how to manage the fire. 
For the white man is prone to get too big a fire. 
A little one, of real dry woods giving out heat, 
not smoke, is the Indian's way. The white man 
piles on sticks, wet, damp and dry until a huge 
smudge and a thicket of flames is under way. It 
is far more than the smoke flaps can handle and 
the teepee immediately fills with smoke until no 
one can stay in it without crying eyes. The In- 
dian builds a small bright, hot fire of perfectly 
dry sticks with the damp and dubious ones to one 
side, which latter are not fed on until dry. A few 
short thick billets are reserved for the night fire. 
After grub is through and the council ended, a 
bed of hot coals is left and on these are placed 
the two short six inch thick billets. These smoul- 
der and char for hours and when they are partly 
done two more are started above them. The last 
of their embers will be alive by sunup, and mean- 
while the teepee has had the chill and dampness 
off it all through the sleeping hours of the night, 



240 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

and its temperature is considerably above that 
of the outside forest. 

In selecting your tent, think over the kind of 
country you will camp in most, your facilities for 
getting there, the prevailing wind and weather, 
the insect life and then pick out the tent which 
best suits your style of camping. For a perma- 
nent camp where you go in and stay in one spot 
for two to four weeks, a teepee will be hard to 
beat if you can cut poles for it, a wall tent if 
straight poles are scarce. For a canoe trip, the 
Hudson's Bay and Forester give two tents that 
have been eminently successful in that kind of 
service, and, for back pack trips into the moun- 
tains choose shelter tent or Forester depending 
upon the number to go. For sand and snow work 
a spike or canoe tent closed, or for a large party 
a wall tent with a tent stove is your solution, and 
for camping in dry countries no tent at all is the 
big idea — just a tarp to throw over your face 
and sleeping bags. 



CHAPTER VI 

CAMP FIRES 

The camp fire is the one thing that boys are 
prone to be most careless about. It is the sign 
of the tenderfoot — that huddle of sticks and twigs 
laid on any old way and requiring one or more 
boys to be forever feeding to make it give any 
flame at all. But, when the Old Scout builds one, 
you notice that he does the job once for all, gets 
a fine strong fire the first thing, does not seem to 
have to tend it at all, and didn't apparently lose 
any time or labour in making it. 

There is a whole lot of knowledge that went 
back of his seemingly smooth and easy perform- 
ance. What woods to use and what to reject, how 
to start and build up the fire, how to arrange its 
structure for the purpose intended, how to get 
the most out of every billet of wood put on the 
fire — all this know-how was what saved his back 
and his arms and his axe edge, while you — well, 
you remember that last fire, how it took forever 
to get going, went out the minute your back was 

241 



242 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

turned and seemed to use up a forest of wood to 
keep alive ! 

In the first place the Old Scout knew what he 
wanted that fire for. If it was for the general 
camp fire for heating the tents, he built it with 
a backstop of a big flat rock or a five-high back 
of logs laid one above the other against two lean- 
ing stakes. He did not propose to lose half his 
heat and light by letting it radiate out into the 
forest but rather built this backstop to throw that 
heat and light back into the tents where it was 
needed. If he wanted a cook fire he avoided any- 
thing that would grow into a conflagration, and 
confined it with logs or stones so that there would 
be something to rest pots and pans on and confine 
the heat under their bottoms. If he wanted light 
alone he built a tiny beehive crib of small sticks 
so that each stick would get all the air it needed to 
make a bright flame and not become a live coal 
too soon. If he was using a reflector baker he 
built a high back of small logs slipped between 
pairs of upright stakes and laid his sticks upright 
against them so as to get a high hot quick flame 
soon done — but so also would be the biscuits. 
Finally, if he had to build his fire on deep snow, 
he laid a groundwork of small logs on the snow 
and built up his fire on them, so that the embers 



CAMP FIRES 243 

would not melt the snow and sink down putting 
his fire out for lack of body. 

Maybe you watched the Old Scout start a fire, 
and noticed hew he used scraps of dry leaves and 
twigs scraped up out of the forest duff if the 
woods were dry, but if they were damp or wet he 
left them alone and instead broke off a few dry 
sticks from the under branches of the nearest soft- 
wood tree and then took out his jack-knife and 
whittled a little Christmas tree of shaving, leaving 
each set on its twig and sticking three or four of 
them in the ground close together. Then he un- 
rolled his matches from a covering of paper birch, 
tore off a piece of birch bark from the roll and 
lit it with ONE match. And, how that little piece 
of bark did sputter and flame like a wax candle ! 
and how quickly the little trees of shavings caught, 
even though it was raining, and how the wigwam 
of split sticks that the Old Scout built over his 
burning treelets did burst into flame ! 

And then, you noticed that before he did any of 
this he had his pile of wood, enough for a sub- 
stantial fire, already at his elbow so that he didn't 
have to leave it an instant until he had a roaring 
fire. And, if you knew something about the for- 
est trees and were curious, you would see that 
most of his first logs were birch, white or yellow 



244 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

(the gas oil of which " blows its own fire," as the 
woodmen say) and there was a lot of hickory, and 
white oak and split blackjack oak for the cook fire 
and plenty of dry balsam and pine for the main 
camp fire, so that we could have light as well as 
heat. 

Almost every boy who loves the woods wants to 
be the Old Scout of his band, and, let me tell you 
something, boys do not give the leadership to any 
one in the woods but to He Who Knows. You 
may be big and strong and the best fighter in the 
bunch, but the leadership goes to the quiet boy 
who seems to know all about how to do things in 
camp and trail, who does things better than any 
one else, and gets results quietly and efficiently 
every time. Beware of the boy who knows how 
things should be done but cannot do them himself. 
He may talk a good deal — the rest will watch and 
soon he makes a mess of it — and he gets the nick- 
name "Professor" — while the leadership goes to 
the boy who makes good, even if his way is not 
the best. 

The great game of woodcraft is technical, as 
technical as civil engineering. There is a lot to 
learn, and while some one who knows can tell you 
how in print, until you have practised at it your- 
self until you know how, your woodcraft is of the 



CAMP FIRES 245 

"Professor" type. We boys once made a camp 
for the sole purpose of building and trying out a 
variety of fires — and that at the tender age of 
twelve years ! Some of those fires I make to this 
day, and I could build them in my sleep ! 

Old Nessmuk, the Pine Marten, was the first to 
put the backlog fire into print. We use it to this 
day, practically unmodified. Two two-inch horn- 
beam or red oak or red maple stakes are cut, four 
feet long and driven into the ground on the fire 
site, leaning slightly backwards and facing the 
open tents. Why these woods, so carefully men- 
tioned above? Because they are nearly unburn- 
able when green, and you do not want the fire to 
burn out these stakes and let your whole back log 
screen tumble over in a heap. The fire eats out 
the bottom log in time, and attacks the feet of 
these stakes, and if of any old wood they will 
surely burn through in no time. In sandy coun- 
try green pitch pine will answer the same purpose. 

Against these stakes are piled, one on top of 
another, five four- or five-inch logs, three feet 
long. They are chosen of red oak or red maple 
or green pitch pine, green balsam or sour gum, for 
the reason that these will not burn out quickly and 
the logs are wanted to last and reflect heat and 
light into the tents. Two short billets of the same 



246 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

woods are next cut and staked against the back- 
logs on each side for andirons. They are essen- 
tial to get plenty of good draft, without which 
most fires smoke and smoulder and act like real 
tenderfoot blazes. Then, to hold the fire together, 
stake a forestick across the front of the andirons 
and you are ready to build the fire proper. First, 
a roll of birch bark, then a huddle of dry leaves 
and small twigs, or fresh shavings if the woods 
are wet. Then, on these, small dry sticks broken 
from the dead under branches of surrounding oaks 
or spruces, never picked up off the duff. Now 
two long sticks laid diagonally across the andirons 
from forestick to backlogs, and on these five or 
six assorted logs of birch, maple, pignut hickory, 
chestnut and white oaks. These are not laid par- 
allel but slightly crossing, leaving plenty of room 
for flames to get through. This fire is next well 
chinked with small dry sticks thrust down 
through the upper logs into the starting fire be- 
low. It is best set off just at dusk, and is built 
about five p. m. while the chefs are cooking grub. 
It takes an hour's chopping to get twenty four- 
and five-inch logs three feet long with a belt axe, 
and, using seven for the structure of the fire, you 
have five for the main body and eight for two 
charges of night logs. When it gets too dark to 




THE INDIAN FIRE 

A good model for a friendship fire. The poles are simply shoved in 

towards the center as their ends burn away. 




THE NESSMUK BACKLOG FIRE 

The best fire for heating an open tent. In boy's size 4- and 5-inch 

logs of red oak or green balsam, or green pitch pine, three feet long, 



are plenty big enough for a night fire. 



-From "Camp Craft" 



CAMP FIRES 247 

see comfortably the match is applied, and imme- 
diately you have a flame six feet high which floods 
the camp with light and warmth, dries out the 
dampness from tents and bedding and gives a fine 
place to eat in front of. You need give it no at- 
tention for at least an hour, when the second 
charge is put on and the party settles down for 
after-dinner stories, council and preparations for 
bed. Then, about nine o'clock the last charge is 
put on, and the party turns in and is soon asleep 
in the ruddy glow of the fire, while its heat rays 
far into the night will be reflected down upon the 
sleepers from the tent walls, — the finest, heathiest 
sleep known to mankind. 

Next morning the ruins of the backlog fire are 
made over into a Chinook fire. There are a few 
embers left buried in the ashes ; pieces of dry stubs 
charred at the ends here and there, maybe three of 
the backlogs, half charred through. The Chef re- 
organises this to make a Chinook fire as in the 
illustrations. One log is laid over the andirons 
in the place of the former forestick, with its 
charred side down. The other two are laid side 
by side a short distance behind this one, and a 
fire started under them. It is fed with sticks of 
birch to make it go, and maple to give it coals that 
stay alive. Two uprights are set up over the rear 



248 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

pair of logs, a cross pole lashed to them, and the 
coffee pot and fruit bowl hung over them to boil. 
Fish, bacon, etc., are done in fry pans sitting on 
the two rear logs, and meanwhile cookie has got- 
ten his cornbread batter or biscuit dough ready in 
the mixing pan. The fire has reached over and 
set the forward log all aglow underneath, and 
cookie helps this along by raking out a bed of 
live coals under it. At the same time he scoops 
away a hole from the ashes and dirt in front of 
the forward log and into this he rakes more coals. 
The batter or dough is next set in the largest fry 
pan and set to bake in this hole, tipped up at about 
forty-five degrees, getting heat underneath from 
the live coals (which should be covered with shag- 
bark hickory or hemlock bark to keep them from 
burning the bread) and at the same time it gets 
strong heat from the glowing log overhead which 
is kept going by the fire under it. Such is the 
Chinook fire, one of the best breakfast fires ever 
devised. 

Let us return to the night before and look over 
the labours of the chefs at the evening meal. As 
this is THE big eats of the day, they have a stew 
on, broiled meat, tea, stewed fruit, boiled rice or 
potatoes, and bread to make, and so the fire used 
is of great interest. Undoubtedly the most con- 



CAMP FIRES 249 

venient range is the wire grid, such as comes sep- 
arate from the outfitter 's in the 9x14 inch size for 
50 cents (or get half a broiler spider from the ten- 
cent store), or the grid which comes in the Stopple 
kit. The best fire under a grate that I know of is 
a crib of split sticks of green blackjack oak, the 
little oak with the clubshaped leaf which grows 
in thickets. It gives almost no flame, plenty of 
heat and lasts a long while. The Firemen of the 
camp see that the cooks are well supplied with 
this, all split for use. Just as good is hickory 
(not the shagbark which is too valuable for its 
nuts to waste on firewood) and after that, hard 
maple and the chestnut and white oaks. Lack- 
ing a grate the regular camp fire with two up- 
rights and a cross pole is good. It is usually 
shown with crotches, but as these are hard to find 
and harder yet to drive into the ground, straight 
stakes are better with the cross pole lashed to 
them with pieces of copper wire. The woods- 
man's pothooks come next, made of forked 
branches with the lower end notched with the 
penknife to take the pot bales. Another good pot- 
hook that is adjustable can be made by any boy by 
getting ten cents worth of brass windowsash 
chain, cutting into 18 inch lengths, and putting 
on hooks at each end. These are hooked over the 



250 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

cross pole at any height desired by simply put- 
ting in the hook at any link in the chain that it 
comes at when thrown over the pole. The lower 
hook takes the pot bale. Under the cross pole go 
two logs of one of the unburnable woods, red oak, 
etc. These must rest on short billets under their 
ends or there will not be draft enough to keep a 
good fire going, and are best staked in place so 
that an inadvertent kick in passing may not dis- 
place the logs and tip any fry pan resting on them 
into the fire. For a midday "hilm' th' kittle" 
the crosspole is dispensed with and its place taken 
by a dingle stick, simply a long slender green pole 
stuck slantwise into the ground and held firm by 
two forked stakes a foot long driven in a short 
distance from the rear end. At its outer end 
hang the pots and as each new one bends the pole 
lower this must be allowed for in cutting pot 
hooks. A pair of parallel logs under the pole 
lengthwise of it, confine the fire within bounds and 
give a place to set the fry pans. 

For baking with the reflector baker you want a 
high fire ; in a dutch oven made of a fry pan with 
cover, a bed of coals protected by bark chips and 
a bright fire built on top of the pan. For the 
former the easiest way to get a high fire if you 
have a grate is to simply set a blazing log on top 



CAMP FIRES 251 

of the grate on one edge. The fire below will keep 
it going and its own flames will add greatly to the 
height of the fire. If no grate, drive in two pairs 
of small stakes 18 inches high and 2 inches apart. 
Fill in with short billets until you have a back- 
stop a foot high. Build a high hot fire in front 
of this, with the sticks leaning upright against it. 
This will give you a flame thirty inches high with 
most of the heat up above, and is the only way to 
get biscuits browned on top before the bottoms 
burn. And remember that unless the reflector 
baker is clean and polished inside it will not bake 
at all. A sooty baker simply burns the good 
dough ! 

Occasionally, especially in midsummer camp- 
ing, no hot fire is wanted for the main fire, but 
lots of light would be very acceptable and cheer- 
ful. For this purpose collect a lot of short dry 
sticks and split billets and build of them a crib 
of sticks laid in rows an inch apart, the next layer 
at right angles to the one below. The first three 
layers of this are to be just the outer sticks alone, 
like a log cabin, and the starting fire built inside. 
Touch this off and you will have a bright flaming 
fire of little heat. Good for council fires and go- 
ing-to-bed fires. Another good one for midsum- 
mer is the Indian fire. All the dead saplings that 



252 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

can be pushed over are dragged to camp and ar- 
ranged in a ring like the spokes of a wheel. Over 
the ends of these is built a pyramidal fire of dry 
sticks and touched off at dusk. As the embers 
and coals of these heap up on the ends of the 
saplings they too take fire, and, as they burn 
away, are fed in towards the centre. Like every- 
thing else the Indians do it gives the maximum of 
results with the minimum of work ! 

Let me conclude with dangerous fires. Some 
woods pop so that they are continually filling the 
forest with live coals and burning holes in the 
tents. Such woods are hemlock, the two cedars, 
chestnut, balsam and spruce, and all the soft 
pines. To qualify a,s Able Fireman a boy has to 
know almost as much forestry as the cookies have 
to know chemistry, so if you elect that job in 
camp, don't take it over without enough prelimi- 
nary study in tree identification and axemanship 
to make good. And, when the camp is broken, it is 
the Fireman's duty to see that the fire laws are 
complied with. That fire must be out; not dead, 
but OUT. It will not do to kick it about and put 
dirt on it ; just poke about in the duff with your 
thumb if you are not convinced that a few live 
coals are still alive. The only thing that will put 
it absolutely out is water and lots of it. Drown 



CAMP FIRES 253 

the site. I've known a fire, left for "dead" to 
hold One Spark, which in two days became a 
smouldering heap; a wind sprang np, blew some 
leaves on it, blew them off again (lighted), and — 
set the forest afire! Some States have fire laws 
requiring a permit from the warden before going 
into camp and the Fireman should see to this per- 
mit before the party starts. If there is much leaf- 
age and duff about build a ring of rocks around 
the fire site, and always clear the site for several 
yards around before permitting any fire to be 
made. We once started a fire in a nice ravine for 
the midday lunch and before any one could say 
Jack Eobinson that whole ravine was ablaze with 
burning leaves, requiring the united efforts of the 
whole tribe to get it under control and out again. 
Fire is the Forest's worst enemy, and as the For- 
est is your Big Friend, see that your fire never 
harms it ! 



CHAPTEE VII 

WOODSMANSHIP 

The boys of to-day are re-learning the ideal of 
the Indian. When I was a boy we openly adored 
Cooper's Indians, the noble Uncas and his stern 
father, Chingachgook. We took them to heart as 
our ideals and named ourselves after them and 
tried to live up to their examples. Then as we 
grew older we were told that the noble Eed Man 
was a pure fake ; that in reality he was dirty, lazy, 
savage and cruel, and that Cooper's word-paint- 
ings of him were a gross exaggeration. We now 
know that these base calumnies of the Eed Man 
were industriously spread by those mainly inter- 
ested in taking his lands away from him, aided 
and abetted by such historians as Parkman who 
judged only from what they saw as travellers com- 
ing into contact with the worst specimens of the 
race. But still our boyish ideal of Uncas and 
Chingachgook persisted ; if the Indian was not like 
them in reality, — he ought to be, with such a glori- 
ous life to lead ! and now we learn the truth from 
the neglected writings of such men as Catlin and 

254 



WOODSMANSHIP 255 

others who lived with the early Indians, and again 
from such early plainsmen as really knew and ap- 
preciated him. 

For he was the Spartan of the New World. 
His art is the only so-called savage art that en- 
dures modern criticism; his religion was singular 
in its simplicity and nobleness. He prayed daily 
for Courage, Truth, Honour and Chastity, and 
what boy of to-day could ask for more ! For, with 
these four attributes of character, all that is de- 
sirable in this life will be added. The Indian's 
mode of life appeals to all boys; his ideal that 
since the Great Spirit is in everything then 
everything, even articles of daily use, should be 
made beautiful, appeals to boys and finds ready 
expression in the decoration of tents, accoutre- 
ments, rifle and equipment. And so, to boys and 
most outdoorsmen, comes a desire to know the 
primitive woodcraft of the Indian; how to make 
the rubbing stick fire, the stick bed, bark shelters 
and utensils, basketry, ropemaking, bow and ar- 
row and fishing tackle, wilderness foods and cook- 
ing utensils — all that comes under the name of 
woodsmanship. Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton, 
who has done so much to restore to common knowl- 
edge the art and character of the Indian, has set 
all these things down at length in his "Book 



256 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

of Woodcraft." As I have used and made most 
of the things there described, since early boyhood, 
I will run over them briefly in this chapter. My 
equipment was, for the most part, copied from 
real Indian specimens in the big Museums, which 
I used to haunt whenever in the City. 

To begin with the rubbing stick fire. Every 
boy should know this simple trick; most Boy 
Scouts learn it as part of their regular instruc- 
tion. Given a shoe lace or thong, one can kindle 
a fire even if lost in the woods with this knowledge 
tucked away in the brain. Nature has supplied 
at least one tree in every woods that will give 
suitable wood for the purpose, and this in every 
part of our big country. For the West, dry Cot- 
tonwood is the thing; Pacific coast, red fir; our 
Eastern woods, dry balsam, linden, red and white 
cedar; in the South, cypress. Even dry white 
pine will answer, provided it is not too young and 
resiny. What is wanted is a wood that is soft 
fibred, free from natural lubricants like resin, 
and capable of producing a fine charred dust un- 
der friction. Of your wood, make a drill a foot 
long and an inch thick, pointed at the lower end, 
and whittled to a shoulder and pinion at the upper 
end. The drill socket that fits over this pinion 
must be of some hard wood, preferably a pine 



WOODSMANSHIP 257 

knot which furnishes its own lubrication. For 
the fire board split out a flat piece of the same 
wood as the drill, cut a notch in it half an inch 
deep, and start a shallow cup with the penknife 
just beyond the point of the notch. Next you 
want a bow. Get it out of some stout springy 
wood like young hickory or a branch of white oak. 
Fasten your thong to both ends of it just tight 
enough to make one turn around the drill, grip- 
ping it tightly. Now some tinder, which can be 
made of a strip of cedar bark crumpled and broken 
with the hands, or of shredded and powdered 
birch bark, or crumpled fine dry grass. Now put 
a small chip under the notch in the fireboard, set 
both on the ground, put your left foot firmly down 
on it, put the point of the fire drill into the shallow 
cup at the tip of the notch, and start revolving the 
drill with long strokes of the bow. As you bear 
down on the drill socket with your left hand, the 
cup is reamed out into quite a hole, and presently 
smoke begins to come out of it. Now put on more 
speed, keeping the pressure about the same ; when 
the smoke comes in dense clouds with yellowish 
tinge and there is a little hill of black dust in the 
notch, take away the drill and fan gently with 
your hand, not your breath, for the moisture in 
it would put out the spark. A thin column of 



258 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

smoke is ascending from the pile of dust, and if 
this persists yon have the spark down inside and 
can raise chip and fireboard together and blow 
gently on it. Soon it has grown into a small live 
coal and then you take away the fireboard and 
put your tinder gently down on the pile of dust 
and live coal and blow gently on it. As soon as 
the tinder takes, blow hard and soon you have the 
flame. Linden is the quickest wood; the world's 
record so far as I know, is held by Dr. Joe Eoot 
of Hartford who got flame in 27 seconds from the 
word "Go!" Seton's record is 29 seconds when 
last heard from; my own, one minute and fifteen 
seconds, but I have not tried for speed. I am 
more interested in finding woods that will work, 
for in the Middle Atlantic States balsam is hard 
to find, linden is very rare and most of the woods 
are filled with oaks, maples, gums, pines and hem- 
locks, none of which will get the fire with any 
certainty. Cedar is the easiest wood to find; it 
takes lots of strength to get a fire with it before 
one tires out. The secret is to call up your last 
ounce of energy just about when you are all in, 
and "give her both barrels" at the end of the 
drilling. 

The Indian stick bed is another primitive bit of 
woodcraft that appeals to boys. It is the lightest 



WOODSMANSHIP 259 

and most comfortable bed to carry on the trail, 
and rain cannot hurt it. I made several of them 
before I was satisfied. Seton's beds have too 
large sticks and too far apart to be very com- 
fortable without a mattress, and as I had no use 
for any bigger mattress than a deerskin weighing 
under three pounds I made my bed of small sticks 
only three-eighths of an inch in diameter. The 
best woods are sour gum and pin oak, the reason 
being that these will bend but not break. In such 
narrow sticks as these your weight will let your 
hips down, but that is better in the long run than 
carrying a heavy bed of sticks stout enough to 
hold you up all over. The stick bed is rolled out 
on a couple of straight poles six feet long, and 
stretched to two stout cross pieces staked in place 
at the ends of the poles. Under where the hips 
come I put a pile of browse or leaves and let her 
touch; all the rest of me is held up springily at 
every point. To make, you need six strands of 
the smallest hemp rope about eight feet long. 
Whittle a fid of hard wood, something like a small 
marlinspike. Start the bed with a stout rod five- 
eighths of an inch thick which is rove through the 
strands of the ropes, opening the strands with the 
fid. Lash with fish line at all six points. Now 
work in about seventy of the % inch rods, spacing 



260 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

them not over % mcn from centre to centre. 
Each must be lashed at all six ropes to stay in 
place and not bunch up the strands of the rope. 
Finish with a second % inch rod, laying all the 
others butts to tops alternately. Even bent and 
crooked sticks will straighten in threading through 
the rope, and when done you have a bed 24 inches 
wide, five feet long that will weigh about 3% 
pounds and roll into a package 5 inches diameter. 
On the trail I roll it out and stake fast as de- 
scribed, covering it with a thin layer of hemlock or 
pine browse or even dry leaves, and then on that 
roll out the sleeping bag. It makes a fine, springy 
bed and you are asleep on it in no time. For deco- 
ration, dip half the bed in red dye made of boiled 
dogwood roots and the other half in black dye of 
bark of the white oak boiled with a nail in the pot. 
Add also a head piece of canvas, painted with 
your totem, and a suitable Indian border (see 
museum for decorative art) and put in it three 
rows of pockets to hold your small valuables when 
asleep especially the things that may be wanted 
quickly at night, such as your match box, electric 
flasher, watch, and pistol if in a wild game country 
where small animals come sniffing into the door of 
the tent of an early morning. 
Another good bed, that can be made up in an af- 



WOODSMANSHIP 261 

ternoon if on a permanent camp not likely to be 
soon moved, is the grass mat. Make a loom of 
twine warps spaced three inches apart, each ten 
feet long. All of these ( there will be eleven of them 
for a 30-inch wide bed) mnst be fastened to a head 
string lashed to the head stick of the loom, which 
is pegged out some few inches above the ground. 
Half of the warps, alternately are to be pegged to 
stakes a foot high stuck in the ground at first 
about four feet from the head stick. The other 
half of the warps are tied to a foot stick which 
can be raised and lowered by the second boy on 
the job. All these warps come up and down be- 
tween the ones fastened to the pegs, so that in 
raising and lowering the foot stick you cross the 
sets of warps. Get a quantity of grass and make 
it into bundles or sheathes some two inches thick. 
Start the first sheathes with the foot beam raised, 
and ram them home tight against the head stick. 
Now the beam boy lowers his foot stick, thus cross- 
ing all the warps and imprisoning the sheathes in 
place. A second set of sheathes is now rammed 
home against the first, and again the warps are 
crossed by raising the beam. This is kept up until 
you have woven a grass mat two inches thick, 
thirty inches wide and five or six feet long. Finish 
by tying all the warps over the last sheathes of 



262 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

grass and securing them in place with a foot twine 
so that they cannot slip sidewise. 

Another bed for a one-night camp or other short 
stay camp where you have not much time to spend 
on bedding is the browse bed. Climb the nearest 
hemlock, white pine, or balsam, and lop off a dozen 
bushy lower limbs. It will not hurt the tree much, 
for these lower limbs are bound to be shade-killed 
in time anyway. Chop off your browse branches 
about a foot long. To carry them to camp in a 
woodsmanlike manner, cut a stout sapling four 
feet long with a crotch or stub at the lower end. 
Stick this upright in the duff and hook your browse 
branches around it by their big ends, laying each 
layer in a circle. Soon you will have a furry 
caterpillar of green browse of approximately the 
diameter of two browse branches and as high as 
the stick. Carry to camp like an old-timer; one 
stickful is enough for one bed. Lay the browse 
carefully with the big ends down, shingling from 
head to foot of bed. Spread on ground cloth 
or poncho and then your blankets or sleeping 
bag. 

Another woodsman's tool that every boy likes to 
carry is the maple or cherry knob cup. These 
knobs are formed by the tree over old branch 
stubs. As the branch is shade-killed it dries and 



WOODSMANSHIP 263 

rots close to the trunk and the winter winds 
break it off. Season by season the bark creeps 
over it until finally the tree has buried it deep 
with layers and layers of new sapwood until there 
is a knob formed. Saw this off close to the trunk, 
and choose a big deep one while you are at it, for 
they are much smaller than they look outside. 
You will find the rotted powder of the old branch 
stub at the heart of the knob, and a lot of hard 
heart wood surrounding it. Bore holes in this 
with an auger bit, getting out the bulk of it by so 
doing. Now start with a gouge and begin shelling 
out the layers of sap wood. You will find that 
the knob consists of a regular series of these sap- 
wood layers about an eighth of an inch thick. 
These are all to come out except the outer two and 
it is surprising how easily they spall out if you get 
right at the knob before the sap has had a chance 
to dry. I have made a knob cup within two hours 
from the time I began to saw off the knob (which, 
by the way is the hardest job of the lot). Your 
penknife will pry off the outer bark, but augur bit 
and gouge are the better tools for the interior. 
Stain, varnish or shellac outside, but do not put 
anything on the inside, for some liquids dissolve 
the shellac, and hot water is sure to make trouble 
for any inside finish. A leather thong and small 



264 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

maple barrel suffice to fasten the cup through your 
belt over your left hip. I usually replace the bar- 
rel with some such useful appendix as a snipe 
whistle or dog call. 

How to travel in the woods is a subject not often 
written about, most writers for boys overlooking 
its importance. Your veteran woodsman swings 
along hour after hour, noiselessly, easily, quietly, 
while you flounder and get into all sorts of diffi- 
culties. How does he do it? In the first place, by 
the way he handles his body. He has the woods- 
man's swing to his hips, not stiff and rigid like a 
man on a country road, but limber and flexible, his 
body always in perfect balance, so that no muscles 
are exerted in keeping himself on his feet. Keep 
an eye on this detail when next you travel in the 
woods, and keep it up until it becomes second na- 
ture. Let yourself go, loose and easy, don't strain 
and don't be in a hurry. Your eyes are always 
busy, not only in picking out the best going ahead 
but in searching every vista ahead for game and 
wild things. Of two possible routes always take 
the upper, for low lands in the woods always mean 
swamps, briars and hard going. Skirt around 
these rather than try to force through them, for 
they will always get worse as you go on. If into 
such country inadvertently, work towards higher 



WOODSMANSHIP 265 

ground. In running a line by compass do not 
try to steer yourself like a ship by it, but stop 
every few hundred yards and pick out a promi- 
nent object like a burnt or dead tree, a big one, a 
crooked one, a rock shelf, anything that you can 
set out for, and work over to it no matter how 
much detour you have to take to get to it. Once 
there you are on your course again, and can stop 
and pick out another prominent object ahead on 
your direct line. Thus you can run an absolutely 
straight line, whereas if you tried to steer your- 
self by compass you would have to change your 
position so much, owing to detours and obstruc- 
tions, that your course would be a long crooked 
one, trending far off the correct line from where 
you started out. 

In following a blazed trail, never abandon one 
blaze until you have spotted the next one ahead, 
and don't take a spalled piece of bark for a blaze 
no matter how good it looks, for to lose your blaze 
is to lose the trail, and your chances of finding it 
again are slight. Two blazes on a tree, one above 
the other, usually mark some object of interest or 
are a trap or cache sign, but if two blazes are on 
opposite sides of the same tree it means a turn in 
the trail, so watch out for the next blaze, some- 
where else than in the line of your course. In 



266 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

stony country the blazes are usually small cairns 
of stones or short blazed stakes driven in along 
the trail. Here again a pile made in an angle indi- 
cates a sharp turn in the trail. If totally lost, do 
not follow a brook unless absolutely necessary, for 
its ways are devious and apt to be hard going. If 
you know the direction you want to go in cut loose 
from the brook and strike across the forest by com- 
pass. If your destination is a lake or river or 
valley which you are positive lies in a given direc- 
tion, it will get you there much sooner and more 
easily than the brook, which is sure to take its own 
time. The north end of your compass needle is al- 
ways black, but, in the panic of getting lost, every 
boy doubts this and isn't quite sure which is which 
— even a man tenderfoot can be bluffed into believ- 
ing that the white end is north, as I have often 
tried it out on them when they knew very well that 
black was north! To avoid any such discussion, 
test your compass some day and scratch on the 
back of the case black is nokth for this compass, 
date — so-and-so, for the other boy is sure to doubt 
it. The sun is a good guide, if you have a watch, 
for half way between the hour hand and twelve is 
south when the hour hand points at the sun ; but, 
particularly in winter, the sun is so slow in getting 
over his course and ranges so far south that to 



WOODSMANSHIP 267 

steer by him is apt to set you off your course, with- 
out a watch to check up south. 

If the course leads across a swamp, pick out 
something prominent across the swamp on the 
course, and then work around to it. Don't try to 
get into that low ground, for you will just tire 
yourself out and get panicky and discouraged. 

If it is a grey day and no sun and you have no 
compass you are in for some adventures. Lost 
man gun signals are Bang! Bang! Bang! and 
repeat every ten minutes, or even five. Three 
fires, raising smoke a hundred feet apart mean the 
same thing, and every woodsman within sound or 
sight will come to you. If no answer, follow a 
brook or climb a tree on top of a mountain, hoping 
to spot some familiar landmark from there. 
There is nothing in the average woods that will 
tell north, but, by averaging up many indications 
of where the sun has shone and left evidence, you 
can find south with some certainty. In the woods 
north, east, south and west are all alike — deep 
shade ; so waste not much time on moss on north 
sides of trees and the like — there won't be any. 
But, when you come to an open spot where the sun 
has had a chance, then look carefully. Weeds will 
be growing thick in front of a rock that faces 
south, with shade-loving weeds, if any, and moss 



268 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

on that side if the rock faces north. Lichens will 
be burnt and scanty on the south faces of rocks 
but abundant on the north faces, and again the 
moss. Weeds and brambles will be thick under 
the trees edging the open facing south, while they 
will be absent or scanty under the north-facing 
trees. All the bushy branches will lie to the 
south, those pointing north will be stunted and 
gnarly. Hemlocks in the open will have their tips 
bent to the east or northeast, and sweet gums will 
have most of their burrs strewn to the northeast 
by the prevailing southwest winds of autumn. 
Finally, on a grey day the wind is generally east, 
northeast or southeast. 

Once having gotten north with reasonable cer- 
tainty, don't rush off and lose it again, but keep 
it like you would a spark of fire, with the greatest 
care. Pick out a big landmark that can be seen 
from any tree top and work to it or away from it 
as your course may direct, and whenever you lose 
north again, climb a tree and find the landmark. 

In a word, don't race, don't get frightened — it is 
the camp that is lost, not you — and work at the 
problem with all your brains, making them save 
your strength and legs instead of wearing out the 
latter in foolish going just for the sake of getting 
somewhere. It is better to stay where you are 
than to go away from camp. 



CHAPTER VIII 

LIVING OFF THE FOREST 

Boys are much more apt to need a meal from 
forest foods than even men hunters and trappers. 
For instance, you start for a hike in the forest; 
you intended to get back about noon, but before 
you know it it is noon and there is lots more that 
you want to explore — if you could only get a bite 
to keep you over midday, and so make a day's hike 
of it. You wished that you had brought along 
some lunch, but that is too late now; can't we 
find something edible? Well, there are literally 
tons of food all around you, and it is part of 
woodsmanship to know how and what to eat. In 
midsummer the natural lunch will be berries, frogs 
and fish ; in the fall, nuts, rock tripe and game, and 
to get the latter we use the same tools that the In- 
dian did before the white man was ever heard of. 

One preferably hikes in the woods from Septem- 
ber on, for the insects then have subsided some- 
what. September is practically summer, except 
that berries are ripe and the fish are still in evi- 

269 



270 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

dence. I once caught a brook pickerel with no 
other implement than a beech broom. He was 
motionless at the head of a shallow pool in a brook 
and I needed fish for breakfast. Cornering him in 
the shallow water, a few quick swipes of the brnsh 
swept him out on the rocky brook bed, and before 
he could hop back he was pounced on and was soon 
baking on a stick before a fire. But a better way 
to catch all small fish is to build an Indian fish 
weir. Cut a lot of small shoots of red maple or 
arrowwood or even elder. Bind them into a flat 
net by twisting greenbriar or wild grape vines 
with two or three of these twists crossing all the 
sticks, and one stick between each twist. Such a 
net will be two feet high, say three feet long, and 
all the big ends of the sticks will be downward 
with a twist of vine along the bottom, and a second 
about a foot higher. With this you make a fish 
trap. Find a small pool, down below a larger one 
that is full of fish — trout, sunnies, chub, dace, even 
minnows and catties — and set this net across the 
downstream end of the smaller pool. See that it 
is carefully chinked with mud and stones, so that 
there is no way for the water to get through except 
through the stick. Now fix up the upper end of 
the pool so that it has a narrow clear channel to 
the upper pool and set aside a big rock that will 



LIVING OFF THE FOREST 271 

securely close it. Next, go up in the upper pool 
armed with brushes and wade in, scaring all the 
fish down into the little pool. Many of them will 
hide under rocks, etc., so be thorough in clearing 
the upper pool. Close the lower with your stone, 
cut a new channel for the overflow water, and you 
will have a whole aquarium of fish in the trap, 
most of which can be caught by hand or it can be 
drained dry by mudding the rock so no more 
water can come in. 

For game, the bow and arrow is always good, 
and every boy should know how to shoot one. So 
long as you have a shoestring on you and there is 
a branch of oak, a hornbeam sapling or a young 
cedar you have your bow. The arrow is the im- 
portant thing. Most young shoots of maple, chest- 
nut and viburnum or arrowwood are plenty 
straight enough, but no arrow will fly anywhere 
near straight unless it is feathered. Make these 
of birch bark or even a tassel of shredded bark — 
anything that will take the air currents and make 
the arrow fly head first. For a head the simplest 
point is just whittled and fire burnt. In using the 
bow the Indian's way of getting right on top of 
the game by his woodcraft before expending the 
shot is the only thing. Your easiest game is the 
confiding little chipmunk, and after him come such 



272 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

birds as robin and flicker, both of which are fond 
of wild cherries and dogwood berries. Sitting 
concealed under such a bush they will come not two 
arrow lengths away and can hardly be missed 
when the fatal shaft is loosed. In the North one 
can get almost as near to partridges, and the two 
squirrels are almost as unwary. Of course in the 
case of a starving lad, the game laws have to be 
temporarily suspended but otherwise some of 
these birds must be let severely alone. To have a 
bow that is all of your own woodsmanship the 
thong also must be woods-made, and the best thong 
I know of is the bast rope, made of a young 
mockernut hickory sapling. Cut this down and 
peel off the bark, which will come off like a glove 
any time but in winter when the sap is down, next 
slit the bark into three long strips an eighth-inch 
wide. Now knot these at the upper end, and plat 
a three-braid rope of it, adding more strips to each 
length as required. Three strong men cannot 
break such a rope, and it is flexible and knots 
readily. Makes a good lasting bowstring. The 
Indians fletch their arrows by splitting a feather 
and tearing off a little of the feathering at each 
end of the quill so as to get some three inches of 
vane. Three of these vanes are then lashed on 
with fine deer sinew. The point is made of a long 






LIVING OFF THE FOREST 273 

piece of some heavy hard wood, such as locust, pin 
oak or persimmon, pointed, polished and fire-hard- 
ened, and these make good arrows for small game. 
Only do not waste them on game that is more than 
ten feet away ! 

To cook all these things the easiest is to split 
and broil before a bed of coals on a sassafras fork. 
Some one may have brought along some tea or a 
couple of potatoes or in some forest cache there 
may be some flour and a packet of baking powder. 
To cook these requires boiling for fifteen minutes 
for the potatoes, or steeping four minutes for the 
tea. The best way I have tried is with a maple 
log bowl, cut from a six inch billet two feet long. 
In this I dug out a long shallow hole, like gouging 
out a boat, using only the axe and hunting knife. 
It held a quart of water and to boil it I set a dozen 
stones as big as eggs over the fire and let them get 
white hot, that is so hot that they were fire-clean 
with no soot on them. Five of these stones 
brought the quart of water to a boil, and each 
stone thereafter kept the quart boiling for a min- 
ute. They were all put in at one end of the bowl, 
so as not to get the water dirty, and I made a fine 
erbswurst soup out of a teaspoonful of the powder. 
Another way is to cut a square of birch bark about 
a foot on a side, flex it over the fire, and bend to a 



274 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

rectangular boat skewing with sticks. This can 
go right over a bed of glowing embers and will 
come to a boil if you keep blowing on it. All the 
bark above the waterline will take fire and soon 
dip and spill the soup unless you reinforce it in- 
side with a twig rim in contact with the liquid. 

To make woods biscuit, cut out all the fat on 
your birds or squirrels and try it out in a shallow 
birch-bark bowl or a rock with a hollow in it. Mix 
this tallow with the flour and baking powder and 
form into a ribbon of biscuit dough about two 
inches wide and half an inch thick. Wind this 
around the end of a two-inch diameter maple stick 
which has been peeled and set over the fire until 
it is screeching hot and then lean it over your coals 
until the biscuit has been raised and browned. 
Peel off and eat as you go. This is the woods 
' < Club Bread/ ' 

What is left of your fat will do to fry puff ball 
mushrooms with. The regular field mushroom 
does not grow in the woods, and all the deadly 
poisonous ones do, in the greatest abundance, so 
the best rule is to let them all alone, for you do not 
know you are poisoned until over twelve hours 
later when it is too late and no human aid can save 
you. However, no one can mistake the puff-ball. 
It has no gills, no umbrella, nothing that a poison- 




THE INDIAN TEEPEE 
An encampment of the Red Lodge, 
and most picturesque camps for a 
permanent camping- organization. 



The teepee makes one of the best 
crowd of boys. A good base for a 




A PRIMITIVE COOK KIT 

Maple club biscuit baker, log soup bowl, hot stones for boiling soup, 

and sassafras broiling fork with wire broiler. 



LIVING OFF THE FOREST 275 

ous mushroom has, and it looks like a big leathery 
pear. Do not pick little ones, they may be just the 
cap of some deadly species. But a big one is all 
solid white inside, and you slice it and fry or bake 
on a smooth flat stone. When fully ripe and full 
of puff powder it is one of the best punks for 
carrying fire in the woods, for a coal embedded in 
it will keep for hours so that you can move your 
fire in a puff-ball with ease. 

Kock tripe is the only other fungus I would eat 
on a bet, and it also is unmistakable. Growing on 
most rocks in the woods you will note a quantity of 
black ears, round as pennies and curled up off the 
rock. Pick these and dry thoroughly over the fire, 
for they will physic you otherwise, and then boil in 
the log bowl for half an hour. Eesulting dish 
tastes like tapioca and is edible and nourishing. 

Of course the most sustaining of all raw forest 
foods are nuts. No flour in the world can com- 
pare with them, as you can easily prove by taking 
along a pocketful of them and munching them dur- 
ing your hunting trip whenever you feel faint and 
in need of sustenance. Chestnut has the most 
meat for the least work, and after him comes shag- 
bark hickory, black walnut, butternut and hazel 
nut. The most sustaining fruit of all is the per- 
simmon; its only rival is the date of the Orient, 



276 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

both of them having almost as much protein as 
meat. 

I might digress here for a few observations on 
woodcraft in hunting. Do not stick to forest 
roads, nor yet just tramp along ; neither way will 
net you much game compared to real intelligent 
hunting. Put yourself in the animal's place ; what 
would he naturally be doing at this hour, and 
what is he feeding on? These are the two great 
questions. Grouse love dried huckleberries, 
though they will not touch them when they are 
plump and juicy ; they love dried wild grapes that 
have fallen to the ground, weed seeds, beech nuts, 
and, oh dear — how they love cranberries ! There- 
fore open the crop and stomach of the first grouse 
you kill that day and see what he has been eating. 
Thereafter search those spots and let the other fel- 
low just tramp along. When you come to a spot 
where one is likely to be, rest assured that he is 
watching you and will jump the instant he catches 
you off guard. If you whistle a little low tune he 
will linger a trifle longer than usual, but, whatever 
you do, do not make a single move without being 
ready at all times to shoot. Before putting your 
foot forward, look for a likely spot for it, and then 
feel for that spot without ever taking your eyes 
off the thicket or bramble or grape vine just ahead 



LIVING OFF THE FOREST 277 

of you that looks grousey. In the same way, be on 
the watch for woodcock in swamp bottoms, and for 
quail along the timber edge in the weeds and 
brambles bordering farm fields. Here they feed, 
and they are all crouched down and watching you 
as you move along. Kick every clump and brier 
patch for rabbits, and when you kick be sure to be 
in position to shoot. Haunt the oak ridges and 
dogwood thickets for squirrels. Their favourite 
food is acorns and nuts, with an occasional berry 
diet — it is wasting time to look for them in a maple 
or birch thicket. That is real hunting, not just 
blundering along. 

And be always on the lookout for tracks and 
sign. Pass no sand patch or mud bank without ex- 
amination. Muskrat leaves his little claw marks 
with no palm ; mink, all five claws and a faint palm ; 
'coon, a tiny baby hand ; squirrel, four tracks in a 
group with hind tracks in front of fore ; rabbit, an- 
other larger group, usually with the front paw 
tracks set very close together making a three-track 
group of it ; fox leaves the trail of a small dog, but 
it always registers, that is a single line of tracks 
like a two-legged animal, while the front and hind 
paws of a dog seldom register cleanly. Wildcat 
leaves a round four-toed-and-palm track larger 
than any cat and showing no claws. Quail tracks 



278 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

are three-toed like small chickens, and grouse the 
same but larger. Watch roads, trails and stream 
banks for these tracks, and, if entirely fresh, stick 
around a bit and see what you can see. That 
means maybe half an hour of still hunting, but it 
will get you more game in that spot than just push- 
ing right on, strong as is the temptation to do so. 

When camped in a good game country in the 
trapping season, a good deal of game and fur can 
be added to the bag by setting a few simple woods- 
man's traps. Two woods-made traps suffice, one a 
springle for birds and one a deadfall for animals. 
The former is just a springy withe, bent into a 
bow by a string tied at the small end and held in a 
cleft in the large end by a short twig with a knife 
edge cut on it. The rest of the string is a slip 
noose lying on both sides of the twig. The bait is 
put at the end of the twig, firmly tied, and when 
the bird alights on it his weight bends down the 
twig, releases the string from its cleft, and the 
withe snaps straight, drawing the noose tight 
about the bird's feet. To make a deadfall, cut off 
a four-inch sapling about a foot above the ground, 
level off its top, and, with your axe make three 
clefts in it, forming three sides of a square. Into 
these are driven flat shooks, making three sides to 
your box. The rest of the sapling is squared off 



LIVING OFF THE FOREST 279 

with the axe and cut about eight feet long. The 
squared end rests in your box and the other on the 
ground. The end of the log comes in the box and 
is held up as shown in the drawing by two triggers, 
the short one upright holding the log up and rest- 
ing on the long one to which the bait is attached. 
There is no way for a little animal to touch the 
bait except by climbing up on the stump, with his 
head in the box, and when he pulls the bait, down 
comes the log on his head, much more humane 
than any steel spring trap and any boy can make 
it in an hour or so with axe and knife. 



CHAPTER IX 

PERMANENT CAMPS 

While this chapter is primarily intended for 
older boys and men leaders who may be called upon 
to establish large encampments of boys for sum- 
mer instruction and training, it also has its uses in 
the oft-occurring case where three or four boys 
elect to spend the entire summer, or at least a 
month, at some favourite lake, and a large tent 
with cots is contemplated. For a long stay, where 
a team takes you into the camp site and weight is 
of no importance, the big wall tent exceeds all 
others in comfort and convenience. Crowding it 
closely is the large teepee, which will sleep almost 
as many around its circumference and permits 
bright cheerful fire at night inside the tent. Also 
it appeals more to the romantic in boys — unless 
they happen to be militarily inclined when the wall 
tent will be the only bet. And the latter can be 
kept as warm as the teepee by the addition of a 
tent stove — a fine labour-saving device to cook on, 
by the way, — and one properly managed will give 
off abundant heat all night long. 

280 



PERMANENT CAMPS 281 

• 

Plain duck army tents usually require a fly over 
them, or they will be apt to leak and will surely fill 
with a fine mist driven through the weave in a 
heavy thunder shower. Much better tents are 
furnished by the sporting goods outfitters, requir- 
ing no fly and also furnished in the various light- 
weight paraffined muslins when they give an as- 
tonishing amount of room and housing for very 
little weight. The 9 x 12 foot size of light special 
waterproof tent is very popular for permanent 
camping. It will sleep four boys easily, the cots 
being arranged lengthwise along each wall with a 
four foot space in between. It requires no fly and 
weighs 30 pounds, costing about $15, so that if 
each boy chips in $3.75 the crowd at once owns a 
fine forest home. It has no stakes and poles, for 
on any decent site such things ought to be cutable 
in the forest, the proper way to put up a wall tent 
being with a pair of shears at each end and a pole 
lengthwise between the shears to which the ridge 
tapes are tied — the way they do it in the Hudson's 
Bay country. A regular army tent with poles, 
stakes and fly, is a bulky nuisance, no less, and it 
costs a good deal more in the 9 x 12. 

The 12 foot diameter by 10% feet high teepee 
will sleep five boys around the sides or eight to 
ten arranged like wheel spokes with feet to the 



282 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

fire, and it weighs 11 pounds in special khaki and 
costs about $14. Because of its steeper roof it 
can be made of lighter canvas without any special 
waterproofing processes, as are used in the ex- 
tremely light tent goods. A ten-foot diameter 
teepee can be made up for about $5 by any en- 
terprising set of boys who will buy 26 yards of 
8-ounce duck and cut it into eight strips 3% 
yards long. These strips are to be sewed on 
the machine to make a big square of canvas ap- 
proximately 20 feet long by 10 feet wide. A semi- 
circle is then struck on this cloth, ten feet in ra- 
dius, and the canvas cut and hemmed. The re- 
mainder makes two nice flaps 4 feet on one edge, 
five feet on the other and about 24 inches wide. 
The four-foot edge is sewed to the teepee cloth and 
provided with pockets for the smoke poles. Such 
a teepee is to be dyed red or yellow, and orna- 
mented with the totems of the tribe and later a pic- 
torial story of the adventures of the tent in its vari- 
ous camps. A gang of four or five boys who study 
faithfully Indian lore and works on woodcraft will 
be able to follow the spirit of the Indian teepee life 
and have many enjoyable camps at it. Somehow 
it conduces more to the study of woodcraft and 
forestry than life in any wall tent, whose associa- 



PERMANENT CAMPS 283 

tions lean so much towards the white man and the 
soldiery. 

In either event I would not attempt a board floor 
for my permanent camp. It is expensive, difficult 
to transport and set up, and it precludes both tent 
stove and fire, so that it is in reality more con- 
ducive to cold and dampness than good Mother 
Earth under foot. A few camp mats of heavy 12 
ounce duck or woven of grass should find a place 
beside each cot, leaving the rest of the ground free 
for the stove and eating table if the cooking is 
done elsewhere, as is usual in summer. In the fall 
and the early spring when the trout season opens, 
the nights will be cold and there will be more or 
less snow and ice, so that a fire in the teepee or in 
the tent stove means a lot of cheer and comfort. 
The main thing with a teepee fire is to avoid too 
much of it at first, so that the smoke flaps can 
carry off all the smoke made. Later, when a good 
bed of coals is established, the stunt is to keep 
three short fat billets on all the time. They last 
hour after hour, giving off much heat but no smoke, 
and when a deep bed of ashes is established and 
the last billets buried in them they will smoulder 
all night. Avoid a lot of small two-inch sticks 
which always have to be renewed and are always 



284 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

giving off much smoke. Dry six- and eight-inch 
logs, split in half, are the best teepee fire-wood. 

For your wall tent the folding sheet iron stove, 
10 x 12 x 26 inches, weighing eighteen pounds, with 
two holes for cooking, is the thing. Go light with 
your fire at first or it will smoke everything out. 
The pipe comes up outside the tent, with the body 
of the stove inside and the front flaps held away 
from contact by withes. One cot should be set back 
in the rear alley when using the stove, making 
three cots in a row across the rear end of the tent, 
one on the forward left hand side and the stove and 
cupboard occupying the right front. Never close 
up a tent with a stove inside of it, for they all make 
more or less asphyxiating gas, and free draft for 
the air should be provided for. Once you have a 
bed of coals on the ground inside the stove you can 
add wood, a few sticks at a time and will find it a 
wonderfully handy cooker for the chef and fireman, 
as the stove eats very little wood in proportion to 
the cooking that it does. A one-hole stove is too 
small to get meals promptly on, but a two-hole will 
take care of almost any meal. The reflector baker 
is set against the side of the stove, which is red hot 
or nearly so, and will bake like a regular oven that 
way. Meanwhile the two holes have fry pan and 
pot going on them, while the coffee pot can usually 



PERMANENT CAMPS 285 

be set to simmer somewhere on the sheet iron top 
around the smoke pipe. Such a stove will stand 
the crowd about $5. 

For berths there is the 80 cent wire cot with 
cheap mattress ; the folding canvas tent cots, cost- 
ing about $2.50 ; or you can make your own cots by 
taking along each two yards of 8-ounce duck, lash- 
ing together a pole frame, tacking the canvas to it 
with 20 ounce galvanized iron tacks and resting the 
bed on two short log billets at either end. The In- 
dian stick beds also do well, in permanent camps if 
reversed each day. They should have a mattress, 
which may be a muslin bag filled with dry leaves, 
pine needles or hay. 

Once in camp, and sleeping accommodations pro- 
vided for, set about making yourself comfortable 
in the matter of eating tables. It will do for the 
first meal or so to squat down with your plate on 
knees and cup somewhere on the ground, but, ex- 
cept in nomadic camps where there is no time to 
set up a log table, proper eating facilities are es- 
sential to continued comfort. The simplest is a 
stand-up table made of an old plank laid on cross 
sticks between four upright stakes. Its height 
should be about 40 inches. Next in order comes 
the sit-down eating table 32 inches high, with log 
benches 16 inches high on each side. This can be 



286 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

any dimension you prefer, but a long plank an- 
swers every purpose. Lacking a plank I have 
made very good tables out of two logs levelled off 
by filling with clean pebbles and sand and covered 
with a tarp or even birch bark tacked down. 

As the crowd camps together, year after year, 
such comforts as folding tent tables and chairs can 
be added if a wall tent is the home, if a teepee, such 
Indian furniture as stools, headpieces for beds, 
etc., will be made, not forgetting the sweat lodge on 
the banks of the lake. In general the details of a 
permanent camp differ not greatly from hiking 
and hunting camps when a small party is out, 
but when it comes to handling a crowd of, say, one 
hundred boys, the conditions change materially. 
One of the best camps of the kind that I ever saw 
had the boys organised into eleven lodges of eight 
boys and a leader, each lodge having its own tent, 
10 x 14 feet with eight berths and a central frame 
which had the clothes hooks for all wearing ap- 
parel. The berths were made by tacking canvas 
across a stout pine frame, with uprights at each 
end so as to get two-high bunks, four on each side 
of the tent. All trunks, suitcases, etc., were ar- 
ranged down the centre of the tent underneath the 
clothes hook board. The tents were the standard 
army duck, with fly and board floor raised about a 



PERMANENT CAMPS 287 

foot above the soil. They were pitched in a long 
row out in the sun, in a grass field, with a broad 
grass exercising ground in front where the 
blankets were spread out to air each morning. A 
central eating pavilion, a cook house and a teepee 
for the Big Chief and the leaders completed the 
establishment. This body was absolutely self- 
governing and self-sustaining, doing all their own 
work except cooking. The discipline was magnifi- 
cent and highly beneficial to the boys. Each 
leader was held responsible by a system of 
" sinkers' ' and honours for the condition of his 
tent, and these ' ' sinkers ' ' meant something, too — 
deprivation of ice cream on Sunday for the whole 
lodge, for instance. 

All the work of the encampment was done by the 
boys themselves. They built the council lodge, 
laid out tennis grounds, repaired roads and trails, 
prepared the food, set table, washed dishes, waited 
on table, built a church in the woods, painted and 
carpentered on the buildings, chopped wood, did 
all the work except that of two expert negro chefs. 
Every night at Council Lodge the leaders reported 
infractions of discipline, slovenliness, laziness, 
etc., and the Council meted out punishment in the 
form of " chump marks" — strips of surgical tape 
plastered on the bare arm and worn until work was 



288 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

done sufficient to deserve its removal. Part of the 
regular ceremonies of the Council Lodge was the 
string of boys coming before the Chief with bare 
arms proudly held out for removal of the hated 
chump mark (and teeth set to withstand the pain 
of its tearing off!) and other bare arms held out 
ruefully for the infliction of a mark. After which 
there were games before the council fire, plans for 
hikes and for the coming day's work, and by nine 
o'clock the night whistle was sounded and every 
Brave had to be in bed in fifteen minutes lest the 
Inspector catch him unawares ! 

Next morning at 7, from the Big Teepee would 
come the rising whistle and the whole camp would 
turn out in its pajamas for Army setting up exer- 
cises, after which five minutes for a dip in the lake 
and then fifteen minutes to dress and report for 
breakfast. After breakfast each lodge would 
spread its blankets in the sun and tidy up the 
lodge against the visit of the Inspector, and then 
set about its tasks for the morning. Those boys 
could do anything from grading a road to painting 
a totem pole. 

At eleven the whistle sounded for the Big Swim, 
when for three quarters of an hour a hundred 
naked boys revelled in the waters of the lake, the 



PERMANENT CAMPS 289 

younger ones being taught to swim properly by 
competent instructors. Then, grub; the report 
of the Inspector (consternation written on the 
faces of the Grey Wolf lodge over a "sinker" for 
a scrap of newspaper jammed in behind a trunk) 
and then the afternoon's play and study of nature 
under the leaders until five-thirty when again the 
dip in the lake. Boys were everywhere ; knots of 
boys busy at this and that ; gangs of boys hiking 
through the surrounding forested mountains ; little 
groups of boys on some special duty or other. It 
was a happy crowd, and the cost was but $6 per 
week per boy. I had the pleasure of teaching them 
something of the arts of camping, forestry, and fly 
and bait casting, and it needed but some one to 
show them that there were game fish in their lake 
and how to catch them to give them the seventh 
heaven of satisfaction. Mighty few sick boys in 
that crowd ! 

Like most big camps of this kind, it owed its 
Indian spirit and organisation to Dan Beard and 
Ernest Thompson Seton, whose writings on the 
Bed Man have been of such practical use to us 
all, boys and men. Like most of our natural 
resources we have wasted the Indian instead of 
conserving him. Certainly we whites could have 



290 CAMPING FOR BOYS 

much improved ourselves by grafting him on 
our stock instead of killing him off, for there 
is nothing that our nation is in so much need 
of to-day as the Eed Man's simple virtues of 
Courage, Honour, Truth and Chastity. In a 
large camp, boys must have some ideal to work 
to, some underlying spirit with which to put 
themselves in accord. The encampment must be 
either military or Indian in its organisation. And 
it is the latter that by far the most appeals to the 
American boy. We have never been a military 
nation, and the absurd artificiality that causes a 
man to make a wooden monkey of himself before 
his ranking fellow-men in the name of military 
discipline smacks far too much of needless foolish 
restraint to appeal to boys. But the Indian's dis- 
cipline, while quite as rigid, is much more logical 
and sensible, while the picturesque organisation 
and ritual of the Indian tribe, product as it is of 
our native land, is far more effective and workable 
in the fundamentals of human existence, life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

Personally there is no comparison in my mind 
between the Indian and the military style of en- 
campment. The military has for its ultimate end 
the organisation of mankind for the grim purposes 
of Death ; the Indian for the purposes of Life, for 



PERMANENT CAMPS 291 

the most equal division of the common good so 
that none may lack and all share in the blessings 
which this good green earth so bounteously af- 
fords. 



THE END 



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BINDERY INC. 

x@t NOV 84 



N. MANCHESTER, 
iNniANA 46962 






